twilight: RESERvoir Style
by catfishii
Summary: Fai D. Flourite's move to rainy little Forks, WA, could've been the worst move he ever made. But once he meets Kurogane Reed, Fai's life takes a more exciting  which means better turn. What happens when I'm bored.
1. Prologue

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A/N: Yeah. Ok, so I

_**did **_**say I wouldn't be posting anything for a week…butbutbutbut…I REALLY need to get this down. And thus begins my (hopefully better) version Twilight, which due to copyright infringements of the two parties I am currently stealing both plot and characters from, I will change the name of:**

**I don't own Twilight, or Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, but I **_**do **_**own Twilight: Reservoir Chronicles :)**

**This first chapter, it's a teaser, summary and preface all wrapped into one. Basically, I read Twilight, bit by bit and type it up, word for word, changing the parts as I do so. Simple, non-headache inducing, and a lot of fun :) …as soon as I can stop the bile from rising to my throat from the sheer sappiness (and I do mean horrifying, disgusting **_**sweetness) **_**of this first bit and work out an updating schedule**_**, **_**I do plan on writing Nostalgia Chapter 6 (former name, Valentine's Day Love) and having it up within the general Friday time frame…ish. But before that, I plan on finishing everything school-work-related. **

**Yes. I'm stalling.**

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Ridiculous Prologues

~_for parodies everywhere~_

_About three things I was absolutely positive._

_First, Kurogane was a vampire._

_Second, there was a part of him—and I didn't know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood._

_And Third, I was unwillingly, unconditionally, and unfairly in love with him._

* * *

Fai D. Flourite's move to rainy little Forks, Washington, could have been the worst move he ever made. But once he meets the muscular and red-eyed Kurogane Suwa, Fai's life takes a more exciting turn. Up until now, Kurogane has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret, but now the secret is out because of Fai, the person Kurogane holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife—between love and hate. This is a love story with MxM.

* * *

I'd given a lot of thought to how I should like to die—I'd had reasons aplenty in the last few days—but even if I were to die, I would not have known that it would turn out like this.

_It's sure a good way to die, _I thought, attempting to stare down my hunter. _In the place of the one I love. Noble, even. That ought to count for something with the Holy Man Up Above._

If I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death right now. But, terrified as I should be, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision and beg for life like a normal person. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Duh.

My hunter smiled and sauntered forward to kill me, never once breaking eye-contact.

"_Goodbye, world,"_ I breathed, and closed my eyes in preparation. That's when I woke up.

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A/N: breathe. It can't have been too bad. r&r, please.


	2. First Sight

**A/N: This is the first real chapter of twilight. It would've been up sooner, but my brother's a real bitch. I got suspended from using a computer. Just so's you know, I'm a lazy person. I like to adhere to the actual wording as much as possible (please refrain from mentioning how many copyright laws I broke. I don't own ANYTHING—for the record, I've been quoting directly from the book—it's been sited). That means Fai is a habitual cross dresser. But…we all know Bella dresses like a guy, unless forced into a dress, so there shouldn't be any problems. ^^ Oh, and I completely destroy the pre-determined TRC relationships in here. Pairings and personalities are kept intact as much as possible, but no guarantees. It took me a while to figure out who to cast as a replacement Charlie…and Billy…and…yeah…**

**Onwards ho!**

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First Sight

_~Am I that predictable?~_

I woke up when my mother was driving me to the airport with the windows down. It was a perfect, cloudless, seventy-five degrees Phoenix day. I was wearing my favorite shirt—sleeveless, white eyelet lace (get over it—I'm a cross dresser, okay?); I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.

In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this town more than anywhere else in the United States of America. It was from this gloomy, omnipresent town that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was this town that I'd been forced to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Yuui, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead.

It was to Forks that I was once again forced to go to again—an action that I abhorred. I detested Forks.

I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the sprawling, vigorous city.

"Fai," my mom said to me—the last of a thousand times—before I got on the plane. "You don't have to do this."

My mom looks like me, except with long hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, hare-brained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Hideki now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still…

"I _want _to go," I lied. I had always been a good liar. A simple smile can deceive most people. Saying this lie so frequently helped, too. It almost convinced myself.

"Tell Yuui I said hi."

"I will."

"I'll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want—I'm not exiling you, or anything! I'll come right back as soon as you need me!"

But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.

"Don't worry about me," I soothed. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom."

She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.

It's a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying doesn't bother me; the hour in the car with Yuui, though, I was a little worried about.

Yuui had really been nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.

But it was sure to be awkward with Yuui. Yuui was not what you would call effervescent, nor was he good with conversational topics. I knew he was confused by my self-imposed exile—like my mother before me, I hate Forks, and I was especially verbal about it.

Yuui was waiting for me at the (surprise, surprise) rainy Port Angeles airport, cruiser at the ready, like I expected. Yuui is the Chief Police Flourite to the good people of Forks. Which was why I wanted a car: I would rather drop dead than be seen driven around town in a car with flashing red and blue lights—nothing slows traffic down like a good ol' fashioned cop.

Yuui gave me a half-baked, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off of the plane.

"It's good to see you, Fai," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me. "You haven't changed at all. How's Chi?"

"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." I wasn't allowed to call him Yuui to his face.

I had only a few bags—none of which held the light Arizona clothes that I so loved. Nope. It just wouldn't cut it with Washington. Instead, Mom and I pooled our resources to supplement my still-scanty winter wardrobe. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.

I found you a good car for you, really cheap. It's actually a truck—Chevy," he announced when we were strapped in. "I got it off of Yasha down at La Push."

"Who?"

"He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Yuui prompted.

That would explain why I didn't remember him. My selective memory was very good at blocking off the painful memories.

"He's in a wheelchair now," Yuui continued. Wow. He's talked more now than he's ever done in a week to me, "so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to me cheap."

"What year is it?" The expression on his face told me he had been dreading this question.

"Well, Yasha's done a lot of work on the engine—it's only a few years old, actually."

I hoped he didn't think I was dumb enough to buy it. "When did he buy it?"

"1984? He didn't get it new—it was young in the early sixties," he admitted.

"Tch—Dad, I suck with a wrench. I wouldn't be able to fix anything if it broke, nor do I have the money…"

"Really, Fai, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."

I sat and mused for a while. "How cheap is cheap?" This was the part I was the most stubborn with.

"Well, son, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift." Yuui peeked at me hopefully.

Wow. Free. Whoopee.

"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy one by myself."

"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking uncomfortably straight ahead. Yuui didn't like expressing his emotions so verbally, something I inherited for him. So I was looking straight ahead when I replied.

"That's nice, Dad. Thanks." No need to add that there was no way in Hell that I would ever be happy in crappy little Forks. No need to let him suffer. And I never looked a gift horse in the mouth.

"Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled, embarrassed.

We then spent the rest of the ride in silence, broken only by the tapping of the rain on the roof of the car. It was beautiful, of course; everything was green: trees, moss-covered trunks, fern-covered ground. Even the Godforsaken _AIR _was GREEN.

It was too green—too alien for little human me.

Eventually, we made it to Yuui's. He still lived in the same two-bedroom house that he and my mom had bought in the early days of their marriage—early meaning before they got divorced. There, parked on the street, was my new—er, relatively speaking—truck. It was a monstrosity, painted a faded red, with a giant fender and bulbous cab. I loved it. I didn't know if it worked, but hey, at least I could picture myself in it. It was one of those things that could walk into a nuclear bombing and come out smelling like a rose.

"Wow, Dad! I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be much less dreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of walking two miles in the rain or accepting a ride from the Police Chief.

"I'm glad you like it," Yuui said gruffly, embarrassed again.

It took one trip to get my stuff into my room facing west out into the front yard. It had belonged to me since I ws born. Nothing had changed, really, except that Yuui had swapped the crib for a real bed and added a desk when I got older. On the desk was a second-hand computer connected to the phone line—something from my mother so that we could stay in touch.

There was one small bathroom at the top of the stairs that would have to be shared. Sure, I could deal.

Yuui disappeared when I unpacked my stuff, something that my mother would never be able to do. It was nice to be able to drop the plastic mask and just mope about what I had done.

Forks High School had a total of 358 students, counting me. Psh. My junior class had 700. Except…all of the kids here had grown up together—their grandparents had been toddlers together. I was the odd one out. The curiosity. The freak.

Maybe if I looked like a guy from Phoenix should, I could work this to my advantage. But physically, bleh. I _should _be tan, sporty, blonde—wait. Scratch that. I _am _blonde. But, I was _frickin' pale. _Even after living my entire life in constant sunshine. I had always been willowy and soft—not an athlete; I had no hand-eye coordination in sports to speak of and usually ended up injuring those that stood too close.

When I finished sulking, I decided to clean myself up after the day of travel. As I raked a hand through my perpetually messy hair, I studied my face in the mirror. Was it just me, or was I started to look like a dying plant?

Facing my pallid reflection, I forced myself to confront the truth—there was no way I would ever fit in. If I couldn't carve a niche in 3,000 people, what are my chances with barely 400?

I didn't relate well to people. Even my mother, who was practically my best friend, couldn't run on the same wavelength. Sometimes, I wondered what other people saw, whether they saw the same thing I did.

But effects, not causes, matter. And tomorrow would just be the first in a long line of dominoes.

* * *

I couldn't sleep until midnight, when the rain calmed down into a faded drizzle. The constant pattering was like a snare drum to me. Thick fog was all I saw in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia closing in. I felt like a Phoenix (haha, geddit?) trapped in a cage.

Breakfast with Yuui was quiet. He wished me a futile good luck at school and left for work. I sat at the square table for a while, observing the kitchen and surrounding areas. Nothing had changed. The cabinets were still the same obnoxious shade of yellow my mother had picked out to bring a little sunshine into the gloom. The living room held a parade of pictures from their wedding day up to last year's school picture (mine). I would have to get Yuui to get rid of those. School pictures are embarrassing.

It was impossible not to realize that Yuui had never quite gotten over my mom. Um…

I didn't want to be obscenely early to school, but I couldn't stay in this oppressive house any more. I donned my bio-hazard-suit-like jacket and headed out, locking the doors as I went. I didn't pause to admire my new truck. I wanted to get out the rain as soon as possible. Inside the truck, it was nice and dry and clean, but still smelled faintly of tobacco, gas and peppermint. The engine roared to life, and, to my surprise, the radio still worked, too.

Finding the school was easy. Take a right at the sign that proudly proclaimed "Forks High School—Home of the Spartans". The effect was pretty cute, actually. Little brick houses in the middle of a forest. Girly squeal. I parked illegally in front of the Main Office to get directions, stepping unwillingly out of my toasty truck, half-running, half-splashing my way into the small, brightly-lit waiting area. There were three desks, one of which was manned by a large, bespectacled redhead in a purple shirt.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm Fai D. Flourite," I informed her, all too aware of the interest that lit up in her eyes. No doubt, the gossip was all about the son of the Police Chief's ex-wife, come home at last.

"Of course," she said somehow extricating a schedule and a school map from the mountains of paper beside her, both of which she explained while highlighted different routes to get to the classes. The result was a brightly colored, squiggly mess. She gave a slip for every teacher to sign, which I was to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled and said she hoped I would like it here in Forks. I smiled back with my plastic smile.

When I got back to my truck, other students were beginning to arrive, so I started my truck and followed the line of traffic, relieved to see that the newest car there was a shiny Volvo. I cut the engine as soon as possible in order to not draw attention to my monstrosity.

I looked at the map in my truck, memorizing it so as to be able to walk around without looking like a dork. I stuffed everything back in my bag and took a deep breath. _No one is going to bite me, _I thought and exited the truck, carefully keeping my face down underneath my hood as I mingled inconspicuously with the other teenagers. I found my classroom without a hitch. The classroom was small. The people in front of me paused to hang up their coats on a row of hooks, and I copied them. They were pale, too. At least I wouldn't stand out. I gave the slip to my teacher to sign. He gawked at my name and I smiled back at him, masking my discomfort. He at least gave me a seat in the back, where no one would stare at me. Which they did, anyway. I kept my eyes on the boring reading list, memorizing it, discarding it. I'd already read it all: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. I couldn't help it—I'm a hopeless romantic. I watched Practical Me try to squash Romantic Me into the bin for the rest of the period.

When the bell rang, a guy most reminiscent of Severus Snape leaned across the aisle and asked, "You're Fai D. Flourite, aren't you?"

"Fai," I corrected. Everyone in a three-seat radius turned to look at me. "Oh, come on! I wasn't _that_ loud!"

"Where's your next class?" he asked.

"Government. Building six." _Stop looking at me…stop looking at me…_

"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way…" Whoopee! I'm not getting lost today! "I'm Watanuki," he added.

I gave him another of my plastic smiles. "Thanks."

As we walked and attracted stares, we chatted about nothing, mostly Phoenix and the weather. I attempted a little bit of sarcasm, but apparently clouds and humor clash. But since clouds are here to stay, I guess humor has to go. Watanuki unnecessarily walked me to the door and wished me good luck. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.

I gave him another fake smile and went inside.

The rest of the morning left at the same monotonous pace. My Trigonometry teacher, who I hated because of his subject, was the only one who made me introduce myself, which I did, cracked a joke and sat down without a fault.

After two classes, I started to recognize certain faces from the blur of gray. There was always someone willing to walk me to another class, willing to introduce themselves and ask the same tedious cycle. I think my face is starting to grow into its mask. At least I never needed a map.

One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked me to lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my tidy five-foot-ten frame. Her innocent aura and short, cropped hair didn't do much for her stature, either. I couldn't remember her name and I wasn't paying any attention at all to what she was saying. Something about perfect couples…?

We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, whose names I forgot as soon as she mentioned them. The guy from English, Watanuki, waved to me from across the room.

I saw them there, sitting in a corner at the far end of the cafeteria. There were five, all silent, all not eating, all not staring, unlike the rest of the student body. But it was none of these things that caught my eye.

They were all dark-haired guys. The two smaller slender ones could have been twins, they looked like little boys. The two taller ones could have been teachers. The last one was muscular, like a serious weightlifter. They were so alike, yet so different. They had a range of skin tones and eye-color, despite their similarities.

But this was not why I couldn't look away.

I stared because each one of their faces was so devastatingly beautiful, perfect. They were faces you never see out in the open—only on the covers of airbrushed magazines, old paintings by the masters of art. The perfection scared me, yet it drew me in. So tantalizing. So mesmerizing.

They were all looking at nothing in particular. As I watched, one of the smaller boys rose with his tray and walked away with a quick, graceful step. I watched, entranced by the lithe gliding until he returned to his seat. My eyes darted back to the others, one in particular—the brawny, tan one.

"Who _are _they?" I asked breathlessly to the girl from Spanish.

As she looked up to see who I meant, one of the taller guys suddenly looked at her. He looked at her for a fraction of a second and then his eyes met mine.

He looked away more quickly than I could, and in a flush of embarrassment, I looked down, too.

My neighbor giggled, looking at the table.

"That's Fuuma and Seishiro Reed, and Kamui and Subaru Sumeragi. The one left is Kurogane Reed; they all live together with Dr. Reed and his wife," she said quietly.

I glanced sideways at the handsome young man, who was looking at his tray now, ripping a bagel into pieces with large hands. His mouth was moving very quickly, his lips barely moving. The other four weren't looking at him, yet I had the feeling that they were all listening.

_Not exactly normal names, are they? _I thought to myself. _But maybe it's in vogue here? Oh, I remember now…her name is Sakura! _I struggled to string together a coherent sentence. "They are…very nice-looking."

"Yes!" Sakura agreed with a giggle. "They're all _together _though—Fuuma and Kamui, Seishiro and Subaru, I mean. And they _live _together."

_I gotta admit, even _this _would be a source of gossip in Phoenix. _"Which ones are the Reeds?" I asked. "They don't look related…."

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Reed is pretty young. They're all adopted. The Sumeragis _are _brothers, though—the little ones—and they're the nephews of Mrs. Reed. Fumma and Seishiro are distant cousins, or something."

"That's really nice of them to take care of so many kids."

"I guess," Sakura said reluctantly. I guess she didn't like them, though from the looks she kept throwing, it was out of jealousy. Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where they sat staring at the walls.

"Have they always lived here?"

"No. They moved here two years ago from Alaska."

I felt a shiver of pity and relief. Pity because Alaska sounded cold. Relief because, beautiful as they were, they weren't accepted, either. Perpetual outsiders.

As I examined them some more, the brawny one looked up and met my gaze with aloofly curious eyes. I looked away; his glance seemed to have been tinged with an unreadable emotion.

"Which one is the big, buff one?" I peeked again. He was scowling now. I looked down again.

"That's Kurogane. He doesn't date. Apparently, none of the girls are his type."

I bit my lip to hide a smile. _Girls, eh? _Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned away, but I could see the corner of his mouth lifting in a silent laugh.

After a few minutes, the five of them left, all gracefully, even for someone as muscle-bound as Kurogane—who didn't glance my way again.

I sat at the table with Sakura for much longer than I would have done alone. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day. One of my new acquaintances—Domeki, he had said—had Biology with me. We walked to class together in silence. He was taciturn, too.

When we entered the classroom, Domeki left me to sit at one of the familiar black-top lab tables. He already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Kurogane Reed, sitting next to that single open seat.

As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was peeking at him. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat, staring at me with a hostile expression. I looked away, flushed. I stumbled over a book and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.

His eyes were red. Blood red.

The Biology teacher signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. He sent me to the dreaded seat next to _him. _I kept my eyes down as I moved to sit next to him. _Why did he hate me? _I thought, bewildered.

I didn't looked up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, buy my eye detected his slight movement leaning away from me, averting his face like I smelled bad. Why? I showered this morning! I'm clean! I hid my face underneath my copious bangs and paid half of my attention to the lecture about materials that I had studied, but took notes anyway for something to do that would give me an excuse to look down.

I couldn't stop from peeking though. During the lesson, he never once relaxed, sitting tensely as far away as possible. The sleeve of his black shirt was pushed up, revealing a muscular arm covered by tan skin.

The class dragged on. i compiled a list of questions as the teacher talked, none of which were about Biology: What was wrong with him? Was this his normal reaction? Why was Sakura so sure about herself?

It couldn't have been me. He didn't know me for Chrissakes'!

I peeked at him again and let out an inaudible squeak. His red eyes were filled with revulsion. I flinched away and suddenly, the phrase _if looks could kill _suddenly surfaced to the forefront of my mind.

At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Kurogane Reed was out of his seat. Fluidly, he rose, much taller than I had thought, and raced out the door faster than I would've thought him capable of.

I sat frozen. _MEANIE! _I wanted to yell. _WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU? _I felt my eyes burn at the injustice.

"Aren't you Fai D. Flourite?" a male voice asked.

I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, brown hair in fluffy disarray. At least _he _didn't think I smelled bad.

"Fai," I corrected him with a fake smile. If he could see through it, he didn't say anything.

"I'm Syaoran. Do you need help finding your next class? I've got gym next."

"That's my next class, too."

We walked to class together. He talked, mostly. He'd lived in California until he was ten, so he could sympathize. Turns out, he's in my English, too. What a nice boy.

But as we entered the gym, he asked, "So did you stab Kurogane Reed with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act that way before."

I cringed. So much for normal. I decided to play dumb.

"Was that the guy I sat next to in Bio?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "He looked like he was in pain or something."

"I don't know," I responded. "I never spoke to him."

"He's a weird guy." We headed towards the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked."

I smiled another fake smile and walked through the door of the boys' dressing room. He was friendly and clearly crushing, but it did little to ease my irritation.

The Gym teacher found me a uniform, but didn't make me dress down for today's class. At home, only two years of P.E. were mandatory. Here, P.E. was required for all four years. Welcome to my personal Hell.

I watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries I had sustained and inflicted, I felt faintly nauseous.

The bell rang at last. I walked back to the office to turn in my paperwork. The rain was gone, but the wind was cold and strong. I wrapped my arms around my thin frame in order to warm it.

When I walked into the office, I almost left. Kurogane Reed was arguing with the receptionist over a schedule change—sixth period Bio to any other time.

I couldn't believe that it was about me. It had to be something else, something that had happened before I entered the classroom. It was impossible that someone I had never met before would have hated me so much the first time we meet.

The door opened, and the cold wind gusted through the toasty room. Rustling papers and swirling my hair around. The girl who came in placed a note in the basket and left, but Kurogane Reed's back stiffened. He turned to face me with hate-filled eyes, eyes that sent a shiver that had nothing to do with the weather down my spine.

"Never mind, then," he said hastily. "I can see that it's impossible. Thanks." And he turned on his heel and left.

I went meekly to the desk, my face pale, and handed her the signed slip.

"How did your first day go, dear?" the receptionist asked maternally.

"Fine," I lied, forgetting to fix my mask in place. As a result, I doubt she believed me.

When I got back to the truck, it seemed like a haven, the closest thing I had to home in this green and leafy hellhole. I sat inside for a while, blinking back tears that threatened to spill over, then turned on the roaring engine and headed home to Yuui's, still fighting back the urge to cry.

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A/N: Finished at last. Well, better late than never, ye? Curse you, Stephanie Meyer, for writing extremely flowery chapters! Curse you, little brother, for getting in my way! DIE! ALL OF YOU!

**Fai meets Kurogane, blah blah blah, Kurogane hates Fai, blah blah blah…you know the story. You've read twilight. What d'you think'll happen next, eh? Psh. You know. This is for entertainment purposes only—no part may be copyrighted, copied, published or reproduced in anyway. Seriously. Don't do it—it won't get you **_**anywhere. **_

**Reviews are love and make me work faster as long as impediments don't get in my way!**


	3. Open Book

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A/N: I'm getting the impression that I offend people. Vaguely. Well, no. Actually, I seriously think you all hate me for what I do. I always forget to double check, and mistakes are hopefully kept to a bare minimum. Um…thanks to LsAngel for catching my brain-dead mistakes—I have corrected them. Now let's see if I remember who's who. Seriously people, leave heartless reviews and I will probably thank you later. They make me cry, but they make me improve, too. :) I'm in a one-shot-y mood right now, but I don't feel like using brain cells to create one. Let's just stick with TRC, eh?

**I own nothing but the theory. Again, refrain from telling me how many copyright laws I broke. I know I'm going to Hell, but then again, aren't we all? Besides, I think I cut and changed enough stuff out to be able to call it my story. Stephanie Meyer is my worst nightmare when it comes to chapters. Eh. **

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3. Open Book  
_~I don't~_

The next day was…an anathema, for the lack of a better word to use.

It was lovable because of a delicious lack of rain, even if the cloud cover was still 100%. I could sort of predict what would happen today, anyhow. Syaoran sat by me in English and walked me to my next class, Cooking Club Wata-kun glaring at him all the while, which was strange. People didn't stare as much as they did yesterday. I sat with a big group of people that included Syaoran, Watanuki, Sakura and several other people whose names and faces I now remembered (a new feat for me). I began to feel more at ease, floating as opposed to drowning.

It was detestable because I was tired; I just couldn't get used to the drafts in the house. First chance I get, I'm boarding up the windows and chimney. It was horrible because the Trig teacher called on me and I had the wrong answer. P.E. was terrible because I had to play volleyball, successfully injuring a teammate. Lastly, Kurogane Reed wasn't in school at all.

All morning I concocted plans on how to avoid lunch without entirely skipping it, fearing his dagger-like glares. The stupid-ass brave part of me wanted to confront him and demand a reason for all of these bizarre glares. The cowardly part of me wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. While I lay, sleepless, in bed, I even thought about how I would carry out this confrontation. Except, I knew myself too well. The cowardly side always won out. Always.

But when I walked into the lunchroom with Sakura, I saw his four siblings. He was missing.

Syaoran intercepted us and steered us to his table. Sakura seemed elated with the attention, and her friends quickly joined. I tried to listen to their easy chatter, but I was uncomfortable, waiting for Kurogane to show up and ignore me, thus proving my assumption wrong.

He didn't come. I grew anxious.

I walked to Biology with more confidence that he wasn't going to show. Syaoran, who was beginning to remind me forcefully of a golden retriever, walked faithfully by my side to class. I held my breath at the door on the odd chance that Kurogane had somehow reached the classroom before me, but I relaxed when his familiar face was not among the throng. Syaoran lingered by my desk until the bell rang, when he threw me a regretful look and went to sit next to a girl with braces and a bad perm. It looked like I had to do something about the unwanted advances from Syaoran and other boys. How the hell was I supposed to do that? I have no tact to speak of!

I was relieved that Kurogane never showed up, trying to cure myself of the irrational belief that I was the cause for his absence. Yet I never stopped worrying.

When the school day was finally done, and all injuries had been taken care of, I quickly changed back into my jeans and blue sweater and left the boys' locker room, pleased to have been able to avoid my retriever-friend. I walked swiftly out to the parking lot and got in my truck to check my bag to make sure I had what I needed.

Last night, I discovered that Yuui couldn't cook much except for instant cereal and fried eggs and bacon. So I requested that I be put on kitchen detail for the duration of my stay. He was willing enough to let me. I also found out that he had no food in the house, besides cereal, eggs and prepackaged bacon. So, I decided to do a little grocery shopping.

I gunned my engine, ignoring the heads that turned in my direction, and backed carefully into the line of cars waiting to exit the parking lot. As I pretended the loud rumbling engine was someone else's, I saw the Reeds and the Sumeragi twins getting into their car. It was the shiny Volvo. Of course. I hadn't noticed their clothes before, too busy studying their faces in a tunnel-visionlike trance. Now that I looked, it seemed like they were exceptionally well off. It didn't look like it bought them any acceptance here, though.

No, I didn't believe that. The isolation is their own doing; I couldn't imagine any door that would remained closed to that sort of ethereal beauty.

They looked at my truck as I passed, like everyone else. I ignored them, like I did with everyone else. I was relieved when I finally got off campus.

The grocery store was not far from school, just a few blocks south, off the highway. It was nice to be inside the supermarket, engrossing myself with this old task that I used to do at home. The roof was big enough that I couldn't hear the rain and could pretend that I was back in Phoenix.

When I got home, I unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in whatever space was unoccupied by cereal, beer, eggs and prepackaged bacon. I wrapped potatoes in foil to bake, and covered a steak with marinade.

After that, I changed into more comfortable clothes, and checked my e-mail for the first time since coming to Forks. I had three messages.

"Fai," my mom wrote…

_Write to me as soon as you get there. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you. I'm almost done with packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where it is? Hideki says hi._

_Mom._

I sighed and went to the next email, which sounded more frantic than the first.

"Fai," she wrote…

_Where are you? Why haven't you emailed me yet?_

_Mom._

The last one was from this morning.

_Fai D. Flourite,_

_If I haven't heard from you by 5:30, I'm calling the cops._

I chuckled. My mother was so funny. Then I checked the clock. _Good. I've still got an hour._

_Mom,_

_Calm down. I'm writing to you right now. Don't do anything stupid or I will personally never forgive Hideki for letting you get this far._

_Fai._

I sent that, and began again.

_Mom,_

_Everything is great, except for the rain, which hasn't really stopped since I got here. I was waiting for something interesting to happen so that I could have something to write about that wasn't boring and sleep-inducing. School isn't bad. I've met some nice kids who sit by me at lunch._

_Your blouse at the dry cleaners where you forgot to pick it up a week ago on Friday._

_Yuui bought me a truck! :) I love it. It's old, but it's got character and could walk out of Chernobyl smiling. _

_I miss you, too. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my mail every five minutes. Relax, breathe. Nothing's going to happen to me. I love you._

_Fai._

I decided to read _Wuthering Heights_ again, just for kicks, and that's what I was doing when Yuui came home. I'd lost track of the time, and I hurried downstairs to take the potatoes out of the oven and put the steak to broil.

"Fai?" my father called out when he heard me on the stairs.

_No shit, dumbass,_ I thought in a moment of weakness.

"Hey, Dad. Welcome home."

"Thanks." He hung his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as I prepared dinner. As far as I was concerned, he never used it, but kept it there just in case. When I was little, he would remove the bullets just to be safe. Now, he didn't really bother. I guess he thought I wasn't dumb enough, nor depressed enough.

"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. He seemed to remember my mother's cooking experiments, which surprised and saddened me a little.

"Steak and potatoes," I answered.

He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing; he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while I worked. I made a salad while the steaks cooked, and set the table.

I called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room.

"Smells good, Fai."

"Thanks."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. We both liked the quiet.

"So, how do you like school? Made any friends?" he asked as he took seconds.

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Sakura. I with her friends at lunch. And there's this guy, Syaoran, who's very friendly, like everyone else." With one exception.

"That must be Syaoran Li. Nice kid—nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off of all of those backpackers."

"Do you know the Reed family?" I asked hesitantly.

"Dr. Reed's family? Sure. Dr. Reed's a good man."

"They…the kids…are a little…strange. They don't seem to…fit…very well in school."

Yuui surprised me with his anger.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Reed is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, voice getting louder. "We're lucky to have him—lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts when they first moved here—but they're all very mature. That's more than I can say for some of the kids who've got family that's lived here for generations. And they stick together like a family—camping trips every other weekend…Just because they're newcomers, biddies have to gossip."

It was the longest speech Yuui's ever made in front of me. He must feel strongly for whatever rumors had been floating around.

I backpedaled. "They seem nice, but slightly introverted. They're all very attractive," I added, trying to be more complimentary. Then I blushed, realizing what i had said.

Yuui snorted. "You should see the doctor. It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of nurses have a hard time concentrating when he's around."

We lapsed back into the comfortable silence. He cleared the table and I washed. He went back to the TV while I finished washing the dishes by hand. I went upstairs after I finished, starting on my math homework. I could feel a tradition growing.

That night it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

The rest of the week was uneventful. By Friday, I could recognize, and/or remember all of the students at school. In Gym, the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and guard me well from the other team who wanted to exploit my weakness.

Kurogane Reed didn't come back to school.

Every day, I watched anxiously until the rest of the Reeds entered the lunchroom without him. Then I could relax and join the lunchtime conversation. Mostly, it centered on a trip to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Syaoran was putting together, I was invited, and agreed, mostly to be polite. Beaches should be hot and dry.

By Friday, I could walk calmly into the Biology classroom, no longer worried about Kurogane. For all I knew, he could have dropped out of school. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't completely quash the irrational belief that I was the cause.

My first weekend in Forks was also as bland. Yuui worked through the weekend and I cleaned the house, did my homework and wrote to my mom another fake-happy email. I did go check out the library, but it was so small, there was nothing worth getting a card. I would have to make a date to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore. I wondered idly what kind of mileage my truck got, and shuddered.

The rain stayed as a drizzle all weekend, so I could sleep.

People I didn't remember the names of greeted me Monday in the parking lot. I waved back. It was colder, but not raining. In English, Syaoran took his usual spot by my side. We had a pop quiz on _Wuthering Heights. _Too easy.

I was definitely adjusting to life in a small town. I felt more at home than I thought possible.

When I walked outside after first period with Domeki (Yeah, I ditched Syaoran), it was snowing.

"Ew." My good day just drowned in a pile of frozen, white fluff.

Domeki looked surprised. "You don't like snow?"

"No. That means it's too cold for rain. Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes, not like the ends of Q-tips."

"You've never seen snow actually fall before have you?"

"Nope."

Domeki's mouth quirked. And then a big, squishy ball of snow smacked him on the back of his head. We whirled around to find the culprit. I had my suspicions about Watanuki, who was walking away, his back towards us—in the worng direction for his next class. Domeki apparently had the same notion and had bent down to make his own snowball.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay? Once people start throwing wet stuff I turn tail and run."

He nodded, eyes on Watanuki's retreating figure. I swear there was something going on between those two...now what was it?

Throughout lunch, people chattered excitedly about snow. Apparently, it was the first snowfall of the year. I kept my mouth shut. Sure, it was drier than rain—until it melted in your socks.

I walked alertly to the cafeteria with Sakura, avoiding mush balls as well as I could.

Syaoran caught up with us and starting chatting animatedly with Sakura about snow, ice melting his fluffy hair, making it even fluffier. Ooh...i want to feel it. I wonder if it feel's like real puppy fur...? Um...I glanced over to the table in the corner out of habit, uninterested in their conversation. And then froze where I stood. There were five people at the table.

Sakura pulled on my arm.

"Hello? Fai? Are you there? What do you want?"

I looked down, ears hot, self-conscious for no reason.

"What's with you?" Syaoran asked.

"Nothing!" I waved a hand. "I'll just get a soda today."

"Aren't you hungry?" Sakura asked.

"Actually, I feel a mite sick. Haha…"

I bought my soda and went to our table, sipping the soda slowly, stomach churning. Twice, Syaoran asked, with unnecessary concern, how I was feeling. I considered playing it up and skipping the next hour, but _really. _That's stupid. I have nothing to fear. Nothing. At. All.

I decided to glance at the Reed table once more. If _he _was glaring, I was skipping Bio.

I kept my head down and peered up through my bangs. None of them were looking. I raised my head a little. They were laughing. Kurogane, Seishiro and Fuuma were all wet with snow. The twins were leaning away as Fuuma playfully shook his dripping hair towards them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like us—only they looked more like a movie scene.

But, aside from that, there was something different. Something strange. I examined Kurogane the most carefully. His skin was flushed, I decided, from the snow fight. The circles under his eyes were less noticeable. But there was _something…_

"Fai, what are you staring at?" Sakura intruded, eyes following my line of sight.

At that precise moment, his eyes flashed over and met mine. I dropped my head, letting my copious bangs hide my face. His expression was different, though. It seemed more curious.

"Kurogane Reed is staring at you," Sakura whispered.

"Does he look angry?" I mumbled.

"No," she sounded confused. "Should he be?"

"I don't think he likes me," I confided in her. I still felt sick and I put my head on my arms.

"The Reeds don't notice anyone enough to like them, but he's still staring at you."

"Stop looking at him!" I begged.

She smiled and turned her attention to Syaoran, who was planning a snow fight of epic proportions in the parking lot after school. Sakura agreed enthusiastically. I kept silent, thinking that I would have to hide in the gym until it was all over.

For the rest of lunch, I kept my eyes on the table. He didn't look angry, so I guess I was going to Biology after all. My stomach made frightened little attempts at jumping out of my throat and into the nearest trash can.

I didn't really want to walk to class with Mike, who seemed to attract snowballs, but when we reached the door, everyone (Except me) groaned. The rain had washed the snow away. I was secretly very pleased.

Once inside the classroom, I saw, with relief, that my table was still empty. The teacher was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and a box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes and the classroom buzzed with conversation. I sat, doodling on my notebook, drawing a complex pattern.

"Oi," said a deep, rough voice.

I looked up, surprised that he was speaking to me. He was still sitting as far away as possible, but at least his chair was angled towards mine. His hair was dripping wet, yet he still looked fabulous. His face was friendly, teasing, but his eyes were careful and wary.

"I'm Kurogane Reed," he said curtly. "You must be Fai."

"H-how do you know my name?" I mentally slapped myself.

"I sit next to you for Biology, moron."

"Right…" I proceeded to mentally punt myself as far I as I could.

Thankfully, the teacher started class then. I didn't concentrate on what he said, having done this labeling thing before. In twenty minutes, he was coming around to check to see if we got it right.

"Get started," he commanded.

"Well, ladies first, partner?" Kurogane asked. I looked up at him expectantly.

"What are you waiting for?"

"For you to start," I said, innocence smearing my blue eyes like toothpaste.

His eyebrow twitched. "Are you sure you want that?"

"Ah..no. Actually, I'll start."

I was showing off, a little. I studied the slide briefly.

My assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Mind if I look?" he asked as I began to remove the slide. He fingers caught mine and I jerked away. When we touched, an electrical current seemed to have flowed through me from him.

"Sorry," he muttered, checking the slide. "Yep. Prophase." He wrote it down on the first space of our worksheet. He switched out the slide for the next one and glanced at it curiously. "Anaphase."

I kept my voice indifferent. "May I?"

He smirked and pushed the microscope towards me.

I looked through the microscope curiously. Dammit, he was right.

"Slide three?" I asked, hand out, but not looking at him.

He gave the next slide to me, careful not to touch my skin again.

I took the most fleeting look I could manage.

"Interphase." I passed him the microscope without him asking. He took a peek, and then wrote it down.

We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Syaoran and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open underneath the table. Which left me with nothing to do except study Kurogane.

"Do you wear contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly.

He seemed puzzled by my question. "No?"

"Oh," I mumbled. "I thought red-eyed people didn't exist."

He shrugged and looked away. I looked down. His hands were fisted again.

The teacher came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to check the completed worksheet.

"So, Kurogane, didn't you think Fai should get a chance at the microscope?" He asked.

"Actually, he identified three of the five."

The teacher looked at me now. "Have you done this lab before?"

I smiled. "Not with onion root."

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Yeah."

The teacher nodded. "Were you in AP classes in Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Well," he said after a moment. "I guess it's a good thing you two are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, I began doodling on my notebook again.

"Too bad about the snow, huh?" Kurogane asked. I had the feeling he was forcing himself to make small talk. Paranoia swept through me, making me think that he had overheard my conversation with Sakura, and was trying to prove me wrong.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Liar. You don't like the cold."

"How'd you know?"

"You ran in when snow started flying."

"You saw that?"

He grunted. "Forks must be a difficult place to live."

"Too true…"I muttered.

"Why'd you come here, then?"

I was surprised that he was so perceptive and open in his questioning. No one had asked me that so directly yet.

"It's…complicated."

"Try me," he pressed.

I paused and met his gaze. His burning eyes confused me and I answered without thinking.

"My mother got remarried," I said.

"That doesn't sound so complex," he disagreed. "When?"

"Last September," my voice sounded sad.

"And you don't like him," Kurogane surmised.

"No, Hideki is fine. Too old, maybe, but nice."

Kurogane snorted at this. "Age doesn't matter as much when you get older. Why didn't you stay, then? If he was so nice, wouldn't you rather stay in Phoenix than move to a rainy little town on the Northwestern Pacific Coast?"

I couldn't understand why he was so interested in my life, but he continued to stare at me with those crimson eyes, as if my dull, used life story was somehow vitally important to him.

"Hideki travels a lot—he plays ball for a living," I half-smiled.

"Have I heard of him?" he asked.

"Nope. He's not very good. Strictly minor league. He's shifted around a lot."

"And your mother…"

"My mother had nothing to do with this; it was my decision." My chin lifted a fraction.

His eyebrows knit together, confused. "Huh?"

I sighed. Why was I explaining this to him again?

"She stayed with me at first, but it made her unhappy…so I decided to spend some quality time with my father." My voice was glum by the time I finished.

"But now you're unhappy," he pointed out.

"So?" I challenged.

"It just doesn't seem fair." He shrugged, but his eyes remained intense.

I laughed without humor. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that life isn't fair?"

"Many times," he said dryly.

"So that's all," I closed.

He looked at me analytically. "You have a good mask. But I know you're suffering more than you let on, Pollyanna."

I grimaced at the nickname and his perceptiveness, sticking out my tongue like a five-year-old.

"Am I wrong?"

No answer from me. Nuh-uh. I wasn't talking to him for the rest of the week, if possible.

"I didn't think so," he rumbled quietly.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" I asked, irritated.

"Good question," he muttered. "I'll come back to you when I have an answer."

I sighed. Scowling at the blackboard. "Why is my face so easy to read? My mother always calls me her open book." I frowned.

"On the contrary, your mask hides your thoughts very well. It's more difficult to mine your thoughts compared to other people's."

"You must be a very good miner, then," I replied.

"Usually." He flashed a smile at me, white teeth contrasting against the tan of his skin.

The teacher called the class to order then, and began to explain the slides that I had little difficulty identifying. I paid him no attention, my mind in disarray after revealing its contents to a strange boy.

When the bell rang, Kurogane left as quickly as last time. Syaoran came over and picked up my books for me. I let my imagination run for a while and imagined him with a wagging tail. That would be cute on him. I giggled quietly under my breath, supressing my mouth's curling edges. It probably ended up looking like I was sucking on a lemon drop, or something. A particularly _sour _lemon drop.

"That was awful…they all looked the same," he groaned.

"It wasn't too bad," I answered distantly, mind far, far away. I didn't try to concentrate on Syaoran's chatter. Nor did I try to concentrate on P.E. Syaoran valiantly defended both his and my positions, so my thoughts were only interrupted when it was my turn to serve. My team members ducked warily out of the way.

The rain was just mist when I walked through the parking lot to my truck, but I was happier in my dry cab. I got the heater running, unzipped my jacket, put the hood down and fluffed out my hair so that it would dry on the way home.

I looked around me to make sure that the coast was clear. That's when I noticed Kurogane Reed, leaning casually against the front door of the Volvo, staring at me. I swiftly looked away and reversed, almost killing a Toyota Corolla in my haste. When I looked back again, I swore I could see him laughing.

Bastard.

**

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A/N: I think this turned out to be longer than the actual chapter itself. Well, I hope I didn't make any mistakes—I was actually wide-eyed and bushy-tailed when I finished this. If I did make any mistakes, drop a line and tell me :)

**Okay, about the Pollyanna reference: for those of you who haven't read the book or have forgotten what it's about, Pollyanna's an eleven year old orphan who lost her parents and went to live with her frigid aunt. She's outwardly totally and completely optimistic, but on the inside, she's grieving something terrible. And, I have a confession. I didn't actually **_**read**_** the book. I got about three chapters in while I was in Taiwan this summer (because my cousin is weird and checks out books like these) and decided that constant "OH! I'm so HAPPY HAPPY **_**HAPPY**_** about LIFE and thankful to God that he let me live instead of MY PARENTS!" was grating on my nerves. **

**SO, what'd you think? TELL ME, PLEASE! REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	4. Phenomenon

**A/N: Let's play a game: I mess up deliberately in every chapter of T:RC and you leave a review stating where I mess up, prompting me to be—lol, jk. Like hell I would do that. No…I'll just stick with typing up the new chapters and being as accurate as someone who refuses to eat breakfast when you should eat breakfast can be.**

**Disclaimer means don't own this sappiness of Stephanie Meyer, nor do I own any of the CLAMP characters. If I did, Jacob/his secret CLAMP equivalent would have been here by now. **

**(Note: this chapter has been slightly edited since publishing. Thank you, Cased In Darkness.)**

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3. Phenomenon  
~_I never realized before~_

When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was off.

It was the light. The normal grey-green hue that I had come to love to hate was clearer somehow. I realized that there was no fog veiling my window.

I jumped up to look outside and groaned in horror.

A fine layer of snow covered everything. But that wasn't the worst. I could live with snow, but all the rain yesterday had frozen over—creating gorgeous patterns on the trees, but creating a deadly ice slick out of an otherwise harmless driveway. I had enough trouble not tripping when the ground was dry; it might be safer for me to take a loooooong nap until this icy hell was over. Wake me up in spring. Zzz…

Haha. Not really.

Yuui had left for work before I got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with him was like living on my own without the bills. I found myself reveling in the aloneness instead of drowning in its silence.

I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and orange juice (because there was a distinct lack of milk). I felt excited to go to school, which scared me. I knew it wasn't the stimulating learning environment that my high school so delightfully provided, nor was it the oh-so-exciting upcoming meeting with my new set of friends. If I was being honest with myself, which was rare, I would have seen that I was eager to go to school because I would see Kurogane Reed. And that was very, very stupid.

I should be avoiding him after my brainless and embarrassing babbling yesterday. I was still frightened of the hostility that seemed to emanate from his body, and I was still tongue-tied whenever I pictured his chiseled face. He was completely out of my league. Why did I want to see him?

It took every ounce of concentration to make it down the driveway uninjured, much less alive. I almost killed myself, which would have been a wonderous break from the monotony of Forks, but I managed to cling to the side mirror to save myself from the deep coma I was kind of wishing for. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish.

Driving to school, I distracted myself from the fear of falling and my unwanted speculations about Kurogane Reed by thinking about Watanuki and Syaoran, and the obvious difference in how teenagers responded to me here. I was sure I looked exactly the same as I did in Phoenix. Maybe it's because the people back in Phoenix watched me pass the gawky stages of adolescence and still looked at me that way. Perhaps it was because I was a novelty here, where novelties were few and far between. Possibly my crippling clumsiness was seen as endearing rather than pathetic, casting me in the light of a damsel in distress. Which I most definitely didn't want. Nope. However, it did explain away Syaoran's puppy dog behavior and Watanuki's apparent rivalry.

My truck seemed to have no problem with making its way through the black ice. I drove slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street.

When I got to school, I saw why my truck had so little trouble—Yuui must have gotten up early to put the snow chains on. My throat constricted with unbidden emotion and I suppressed a wave of affection towards the man. I leaned on the truck, composing myself, when I heard an odd screeching sound.

It was loud, high-pitched and hurtling towards me. Fast.

I saw several things happen at once, though not in slow-motion like in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline hit me like a shot from an Epi pen, making my brain speed up its processing center, allowing me to absorb much more detail. Kurogane Reed was staring at me in horror, four cars down. His face stood out from all the rest frozen in shock. More importantly, there was a dark blue van that was hurtling towards me at an alarming rate, skidding, spinning and swerving out of control, tires locked and squealing against the brakes. It was going to hit me and my truck. I barely had time to close my eyes and wish a goodbye to the cold, cruel world.

Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head crack against the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still hurtling towards me. It had curled gratingly around my truck and was spinning and sliding towards me. _Again. _

"_Fuck." _The voice was impossible to not recognize. Two big, tan hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van rammed into the hands, creating a large dent, a foot away from my face.

Then, his hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging my legs out of the way like a doll till they hit the tire of the car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled like an old man, hissing and popping, exactly where my legs had been.

It was absolutely silent before the lot erupted in a screaming bedlam. I could hear more than one person screaming my name, but more clearly than the yelling, I could hear Kurogane Reed's low, frantic voice in my ear.

"Oi, idiot. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I smarted a little at the name. I tried to sit up, and realized that he was pinning me against the side of his body.

"Be careful," he warned. "You hit your head."

I became aware of the painful throbbing centered above my left ear.

"Ow," I said, surprised.

I had the suspicion that Kurogane was suppressing something akin to laughter, exasperation and something I couldn't name in his noncommittal grunt.

"How in the…" I trailed off, trying to clear my head, get my bearings. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Ninja skills," he deadpanned.

"No, seriously."

"I was standing right next to you," he said (seriously).

I turned to sit up and he let me, letting go of my waist and sliding as far away from me as he could in the limited space. I looked innocently at his concerned expression, disoriented once again by his flaming eyes. Wait, what? What did I just ask him?

And then they found us, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.

"Don't move," someone instructed.

"Get Yukito out of the van!" someone else shouted. There was a flurry of activity. I tried to get up, but Kurogane pushed me back down.

"Stay."

"But it's _cold!" _I complained like a wet kitten. His chuckle surprised me. "You were over there!" I suddenly remembered. "You were by your car!"

His expression turned neutral. "No, I wasn't."

"I saw you." All around us, adults and students were running around like worker ants.

"Look moron, I was standing right next of you and I pulled you out of the way." He unleashed the full, devastating power of his eyes on me, as if trying to communicate something crucial. "Ninja skills."

"No." I set my jaw, which probably ended up looking like me pouting like a petulant child.

The fire in his eyes blazed. "Don't question me."

"Why?" I demanded.

"I can't tell you…not now." He ran a hand distractedly through his hair. Clearly, he was agitated.

"What about later?" I could hear sirens in the air.

"Fine," he snapped.

"Fine," I repeated angrily.

"Good."

"Good."

"Fine."

"STOP!"

It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van far enough away from us to bring stretchers in. Kurogane vehemently refused his, and I tried to do the same, but the traitor told them I'd hit my head. I almost died of humiliation when they put the neck brace on. The entire school was there, watching soberly as they loaded me into the back of the ambulance. Kurogane got to ride in front. UNFAIR! I wanted to yell.

To make matters worse, Chief Flourite arrived before they could whisk me away.

"Fai!" he yelled in panic when he recognized me on stretcher.

"I'm completely fine Yu—Dad," I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He ignored me and turned to the nearest EMT for an opinion. I tuned him out and focused on the jumble of confusing images in my mind's eye. When they'd lifted me away from the car, I had seen a deep dent that more or less fit the contours of Kurogane's shoulders, as if he had braced himself against the metal frame of the car with more than enough force…

And there was his family, looking on from the distance, with expressions that ranged from disapproval to fury but held no concern for their brother's safety.

I tried to come to a plausible conclusion, but the only one I came up with was "I'm absolutely, completely, without a doubt INSANE."

Naturally, the ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. I felt absolutely ridiculous, and Kurogane was just allowed to waltz right through the door, unassisted.

They put me in the emergency room. A nurse attached a pressure cuff to my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. Since no one bothered pulling the curtain around to give me a smidge of privacy, I decided to pull off the neck brace, which I threw underneath the bed.

There was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to me. I recognized Yukito from my Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Yukito looked a hundred times worse times worse than I felt. But he was looking anxiously at me.

"Fai, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine, Yukito—you look awful, are you alright?"

As we spoke, nurses began unwinding the soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow cuts all over his forehead and left cheek.

He ignored me. "I thought I was going to kill you! I was going so fast and hit the ice wrong—ow!" he winced as a nurse dabbed at his face.

"Don't worry; you missed."

"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone…"

"Umm…Kuro-tan pulled me out of the way." I decided that my savior needed a cute nickname to balance his ferocity.

"Who?" I swear he was laughing. Good. Revenge is sweet.

"Kurogane Reed—he was standing next to me." Fine. Kuro-chan, you win this round, but that will only increase the nicknames. Heheh…

"Reed? I didn't see him…wow, it was so fast, I guess. Is he okay?"

"I think. He didn't need a stupid neck brace or stretcher." This, I pouted at.

They wheeled me away then, to X-ray my head. I told them there was nothing wrong, and I was right. Not even a concussion. I asked if I could leave, but the nurse said I had to talk to the doctor first. So I was trapped in the ER, bored, waiting and harassed by Yukito's constant promises and apologies. I tried to convince him that it wasn't necessary, but eventually gave up. He kept up a remorseful mumbling and I closed my eyes and ignored him.

"He sleeping?" a rough voice asked. My eyes flew open.

Kurogane was standing at the foot of the bed, smirking. I glared at him as best as I could.

"Hey, Kurogane, I'm really sorry—" Yukito began.

Kurogane didn't let him get any farther. "You didn't kill me," he said, flashing a cocky smile at him. He moved to sit on the edge of Yukito's bed, facing me. He smirked.

"So, what's the verdict?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, but they won't let me go," I complained. "How come you aren't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?"

"It's all about your connections," he answered, still smirking. "But don't worry, I'll spring you."

Then a doctor walked around the corner, and my mouth dropped open. He was young, he was dark haired, with flawless Eurasian looks…and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles underneath his eyes. From Yuui's description, this had to be Kurogane's father.

"So, Mr. Flourite," Dr. Reed said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I said, annoyed.

He walked to the lightboard on the wall over my head, and turned it on.

"Your X-rays look good," he said. "Does your head hurt? Kurogane said you hit it pretty hard."

"I'm _fine." _I threw a scowl at Kuro-meanie.

The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along my skull. He noticed when I winced.

"Tender?" he asked.

"Eh." I've had worse.

I heard a deep rumble and looked over to see Kurogane's patronizing smile. My eyes narrowed into cat-like slits.

"Well, your father is in the waiting room—you can go home to him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have problems with your eyesight."

"Can't I go back to school?" I asked, imagining Yuui trying to be attentive.

"Maybe you should take it easy today."

I glanced at Kurogane. "What about him?"

Kurogane smirked. "Someone has to go tell the entire student body that we survived."

"Actually," Dr. Reed corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."

"Oh no," I moaned, covering my face with my hands.

Dr. Reed raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"

"No, no," I said hastily, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and hopping down. Too quickly—I staggered, and Dr. Reed caught me. He looked concerned.

"I'm fine," I assured him. No need to tell him my balance problems had nothing to do with my head.

"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested.

"It doesn't hurt that bad!"

"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr. Reed said, smiling as he signed my chart with a flourish.

"Lucky Kuro-tan happened to be standing next to me," I amended. Grr…you win this round, too.

"Oh, well, yes," Dr. Reed agreed, suddenly occupied by the papers in front of him. I can tell he's trying not to laugh, as well as something else. He moved to look at Yukito. He's hiding something; I knew it.

"I'm afraid you'll have to stay with us a little be longer," he said to Yukito, and began checking his cuts.

As soon as the doctor's back was turned, I moved to Kuro-fu's side and tugged on his arm.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I hissed under my breath. He took a step back from me, his jaw suddenly clenched.

"Your dad is waiting for you," he said through his teeth.

I glanced at Dr. Reed and Yukito.

"I'd like to speak to you alone, if you don't mind," I pressed.

He glared, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. I nearly had to run to keep up. As soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face me.

"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes, fiery red though they were, were cold.

His unfriendliness intimidated me. My words came out with less severity than I'd intended. "You owe me an explanation," I reminded him.

"I saved your life—I don't owe you anything."

I flinched. "You promised."

"You hit your head, idiot. You don't know what you're talking about." His tone was cutting.

My temper flared. "There is nothing wrong with my head!"

He glared at me. "What do you want?"

"I want to know the truth!" I yelled. "Why am I lying for you!"

"What do you _think _happened?" he snapped.

It came out in a torrent.

"All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me—Yukito didn't see you either, so don't tell me I'm wrong. That van was going to crush us both, but your hands left dents in the side of the car—the van should have crushed my legs-you swore-but you were holding it up…"I could hear the absurdities as they poured out. "…and you said something about 'ninja skills'…" I couldn't continue. I was so angry, I could feel the tears coming; I tried to force them back.

He was staring at me incredulously, but his face told another story—tense, defensive.

"You think I lifted a _van _off of you?" His tone questioned my sanity, which only made me more suspicious. Perfection of that sort didn't—couldn't—exist.

I nodded.

"Nobody will believe that." His voice held a note of derision.

"I'm not going to tell anyone." I said these words slowly, suppressing my anger.

Surprise flitted across his face. "Then why the hell does it matter?"

"It matters to me," I said. "I like to know the truth about things. Tell me why I'm lying for you. Give me a good reason."

"Can't you just forget about it?"

"No."

"In that case…enjoy the torture. I'm not telling you anything."

We scowled at each other. I was the first to speak, trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a Destroyer's Angel.

"Why did you even bother?" I asked frigidly.

He paused, and for a brief moment, his stunning face lost its' carefully regimented control as pain flickered across his face.

"I don't know," he said softly, lifting a hand as if to brush my bangs to the side, but deciding against it at the last minute, and dropping it. And then he turned his back on me and walked away.

I was angry-and shocked; it took me a few minutes until I could move. I made my way slowly to the exit at the end of the hallway.

The waiting room was more unpleasant than I'd feared. It seemed like every face I knew in Forks was there, staring at me. Yuui rushed to my side; I put my hands up to ward him away.

"There's nothing wrong with me," I assured him, still irked by Kurogane's abrupt brush-off.

"What did the doctor say?"

"Dr. Reed saw me, and he said I was fine and I could go home." I sighed. Syaoran, Sakura and Watanuki were all there, beginning to converge on us. "Let's go," I urged.

Yuui steered me by the shoulder, and led me to the glass doors of the exit. I waved sheepishly at my friends, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief—the first time I'd ever felt that way—to get into the cruiser.

We drove in silence, lost in our own thoughts. I was positive that Kurogane's defensive behavior in the hallway was confirmation to what I saw.

When we got to the house, Yuui finally spoke.

"Um…you'll need to call Chi." He hung his head, guilty.

I was appalled. "You called Mom!"

"Sorry."

I slammed the cruiser door on my way out, in a worse mood than from before.

My mom was hysterical. I had to tell her I was fine at least thirty times before she finally got it. She begged me to come home, forgetting that it was empty at the moment. Her pleas were easy to ignore, though—I was too wrapped in the angsty, confusing mystery that was Kurogane Reed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wasn't as eager to escape anymore, like a normal teenager would be.

I decided to call it a day early because Yuui's constant attentiveness was grating on me. I stopped on my way to grab three Tylenol from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, I drifted to sleep.

That was the first night I dreamed of Kurogane Reed.

**

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A/N: Whew! Finally, the introduction is done and we're getting somewhere. I'm also getting better at editing Meyer's stuff to suit my needs :) I'm putting my projects on hold for a while to write a quick Poe Parody for Nims that I will then proceed to force my awesome writer friends to beta.

**As usual, Review for me. I need your help in finding mistakes -.-;**

**Did I get them all?**


	5. Lazy Author Omakes

**A/N: First off, I thank you for your wonderful help in pointing out mistakes. It really means a lot to me. As for you, Cased In Darkness, in public response to your review (because I think the general public also deserves to know), I promise to stop sticking so closely to the plot like a leech. I know—it gets on my nerves, too. But, I'm human, and humans naturally have fears about the unknown. And I have issues with time management. These are all excuses, but I'm serious…I will look up on it. Well, actually, it doesn't really apply to this chapter. I got bored of Bella.**

**-Insert Disclaimers on twilight and CLAMP works HERE-**

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1. Kuro-vamp Omake 1  
~_I need a break~_

I'm going to be totally honest.

Life in Forks sucks something shitty. At least in Alaska, you could see the wildlife. In Washington, you were lucky to catch sight of a deer. I've been living in Forks for two years, ever since Clow moved the family down farther south.

I vowed with myself that, if I didn't get a girlfriend within the next ten years, I would commit seppuku. No man deserves to stay a virgin for this long. Especially when their housemates are all paired up.

Wait. Hold on. I SOUND LIKE A FUCKING FRAT BOY. _THAT'S IT. I'M GETTING A GIRLFRIEND. _

My "brothers" were sending off weird vibes at the lunch table we were sitting at. Well, not weird. Just…I'M NOT GOING THERE. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BEDROOM STAYS IN THE BEDROOM, CAPISCHE?

Then, I saw her. Or what I thought was a "her". She had long-ish blonde hair; she had blue eyes and a pretty mouth that was stretched into a sick smile. She was slender, but not stick-thin, and probably only a head shorter than me.

I liked her. A lot. She didn't seem all that shallow, but for the smile. Her eyes were speaking volumes to me. Glassy pools of cerulean, showing hints of a darker sapphire.

I picked up on the thread of conversation that she was holding with her friend with my enhanced hearing.

"…which ones are the Reeds? They don't look related." Her voice was a lilting alto, with a hint of Southwestern accenting it.

"…they're all adopted. The Sumeragis _are _brothers though—the little ones—and they're the nephews of Mrs. Reed_._ Fuuma and Seishiro are distant cousins, or something."

I scowled. Always talking about us. These people have no privacy concerns. I picked up on the conversation again.

"…Apparently none of the girls are his type." Eyes burned into my cheek and I turned my head, a corner of my mouth lifting in a smirk. _There's one now._

The clock on the wall told us it was close to the end of lunch and we left, me being careful not to look at the girl. I didn't expect her to have Biology with me, though. _Shit. _I watched her walk up to the teacher with a note. As she passed my table, she met my eyes, blushed, and stumbled. _What the hell? Ditz._

There was only one free seat in this class, and that was next to me. _Fuck._ The teacher sent her over to sit next to me. She sat down and her bangs brushed over her eyes, shielding them.

Through the entire period, I sat as far away as possible. I knew she was peeking at me every few seconds. Once, she looked a bit too much and I realized that "she", in fact, was a "he". _Aww, shit. _

The final bell rang, and I ran away as fast as I possibly could without attracting too much unwanted attention. I skipped the last period. The teachers wouldn't care. I got near perfect, anyway. When the last bell rung, I high-tailed it to the main office to see if I could just _possibly, _just _maybe _get put in a different class. I sucked at charisma. Seishiro was much better. He could play most of the teachers like Jackson and the 88th.

The door opened, and who else but the blondie walk in looking like a frozen cat. "Ff—never mind then," I said hastily. "I can see it's impossible. Thanks." I left, giving the shorter boy a wide berth as he stepped meekly up to the receptionists' desk.

"How did your first day go, dear?" I heard her ask, then the door swung shut and I listened no more.

I decided to skip the rest of the week. I needed to set my priorities straight. If I could barely see straight with that guy in the same room, what the hell was I supposed to do? I hunted a lot that week.

On Monday, I was back at school. I would have continued skipping if Yuuko hadn't threatened me with a frying pan (Dammit! I forgot it wouldn't hurt me!). Kamui had a handful of snow in his hand, and with a skillful flick of the wrist, he threw it all at Fuuma and hid behind Seishiro. Fuuma scraped off the snow that hadn't melted and tried to dump it on Kamui, but ended up hitting Seishiro. Seishiro threw a snowball at Fuuma for revenge, but he ducked and it hit me. I would have punched the bastard, but face smashing was something you didn't do in front of Subaru, who got very creative when exacting revenge. They were laughing, and Fuuma was shaking his hair like a dog at the twins. I cracked a smile.

All of a sudden, I felt eyes attach themselves to the back of my head. I turned, and met eyes with the ditzy blonde, who looked down, hiding behind his bangs. _Damn. _I must have scared him. His friend was looking curiously at me, though, but looked away when he asked her to. She complied, turning to a boy with fluffy brown hair, who was talking enthusiastically about a snow fight.

Lunch ended, and he took off like a shot. I smirked. _Someone's _excited. I made my way to the Bio classroom. He was already sitting there, doodling on his notebook.

I cleared my throat. "Oi."

He looked up, surprise written all over his face.

"I'm Kurogane Reed," I said. "You must be Fai."

"H-how do you know my name?" He stammered when he was nervous. I think, deep, deep, deep down inside of me, something died.

"I sit next to you for Biology, moron."

"Right…" He looked embarrassed.

Thankfully, the teacher started class then. I didn't concentrate on what he said, having done this labeling thing before. In twenty minutes, he was coming around to check to see if we got it right.

"Get started," he commanded.

"Well, ladies first, partner?" I said, smirking. He sat there, looking at me as if he were waiting for something to happen.

"What are you waiting for?"

"For you to start," he said, all fake-innocence.

My eyebrow twitched. "Are you sure you want that?"

"Ah..no. Actually, I'll start."

He studied the slide briefly, his assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Mind if I look?" I asked as I began to remove the slide. He fingers caught mine and I jerked away. When we touched, an electrical current seemed to have flowed through me from him. "Sorry," I muttered, checking the slide. "Yep. Prophase." _Damn, he got it right. _I wrote it down on the first space of our worksheet and switched out the slide for the next one and glanced at it curiously. "Anaphase."

"May I?"

I smirked and pushed the microscope towards me. I knew I was right, and he knew I was right. Heh.

"Slide three?" he asked, hand out.

I gave the next slide to him, careful not to touch his skin again.

He took the most fleeting look he could manage.

"Interphase." He passed me the microscope. I took a peek, and then wrote it down.

We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see the fluffy-haired kid and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open underneath the table.

"Do you wear contacts?" he blurted out suddenly.

_What kind of question was that_? "No?"

"Oh," he mumbled. "I thought red-eyed people didn't exist."

I shrugged and looked away. My hands clenched into fists.

The teacher came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to check the completed worksheet.

"So, Kurogane, didn't you think Fai should get a chance at the microscope?" He asked.

"Actually, he identified three of the five."

The teacher looked at him now. "Have you done this lab before?"

He smiled a pleasantly plastic smile. "Not with onion root."

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Yeah."

The teacher nodded. "Were you in AP classes in Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Well," he said after a moment. "I guess it's a good thing you two are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, he began doodling on my notebook again.

"Too bad about the snow, huh?" I asked. Must. Make. Small talk.

"Yeah."

"Liar. You don't like the cold."

"How'd you know?"

"You ran in when snow started flying."

"You saw that?"

I grunted. "Forks must be a difficult place to live."

"Too true…"he muttered.

"Why'd you come here, then?"

"It's…complicated."

"Try me," I pressed.

He met my eyes before answering.

"My mother got remarried," he said.

"That doesn't sound so complex," I disagreed. "When?"

"Last September," his voice sounded sad.

"And you don't like him," I surmised.

"No, Hideki is fine. Too young, maybe, but nice."

"Why didn't you stay, then? If he was so nice, wouldn't you rather stay in Phoenix than move to a rainy little town on the Northwestern Pacific Coast?"

"Hideki travels a lot—he plays ball for a living," he half-smiled.

"Have I heard of him?" I asked.

"Nope. He's not very good. Strictly minor league. He's shifted around a lot."

"And your mother…"

"My mother had nothing to do with this; it was my decision." His chin lifted a fraction.

My eyebrows knit together, confused. "Huh?"

He sighed. "She stayed with me at first, but it made her unhappy…so I decided to spend some quality time with my father." His voice was glum by the time he finished.

"But now you're unhappy," I pointed out.

"So?" he challenged.

"It just doesn't seem fair." I shrugged.

He laughed without humor. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that life isn't fair?"

"Many times," I said dryly.

"So that's all," he closed.

I looked at him analytically. "You have a good mask. But I know you're suffering more than you let on, Pollyanna."

He grimaced at the nickname, sticking out his tongue like a five-year-old.

"Am I wrong?"

He didn't answer. I probably made him mad when I called him that girly name.

"I didn't think so," I said quietly.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" he asked, irritated.

"Good question," I muttered. "I'll come back to you when I have an answer."

He sighed, scowling at the blackboard. "Why is my face so easy to read? My mother always calls me her open book." He frowned.

"On the contrary, your mask hides your thoughts very well. It's more difficult to mine your thoughts compared to other people's."

"You must be a very good miner, then," he replied.

"Usually." I smiled.

The teacher called the class to order then, and began to explain the slides that I had little difficulty identifying. I paid him no attention.

When the bell rang, I left as quickly as last time. Last period wasn't so bad. I had too many things to think about. The school day ended, and I waited outside my Volvo for my "brothers" to get there. I saw Fai climb into a giant of a Chevy and he saw me. He quickly looked away, blush staining his cheeks and reversed so quickly that he almost totaled the poor little Corolla that had the unfortunacy to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I laughed. He was just so c-. NO. NO NO NO NO NO.

The next day, everything was frozen. I mean_, everything_. Godammit! Ice was my worst mightmare. You couldn't drive fast on ice. It took me a long time to get to school and having Subaru and Seishiro in the same car didn't help. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Seishiro was a lecherous bastard. Well, he is, but…

I got to the school and parked. We all got out, and I noticed that Fai had also gotten here. He seemed choked up over something.

_SCREEEEECH! _Fai's head whipped around and he froze like a deer. I did the only thing that made sense to me: _save him. _

Everything happened so fast—I ran before my brothers could disprove. The next thing I knew, I had pushed Fai out of the way and blocked the van with my body.

"_Fuck." _My hands shot out, creating a large dent in the van a foot away from my face.

Then, I swung his legs out of the way, right before the van settled like an old man, hissing and popping, exactly where my legs had been. He was so _light, _I found myself wondering.

It was absolutely silent before the lot erupted in a screaming bedlam.

"Oi, idiot. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He tried to sit up, but I was pinning him to my side. Why? I have no clue.

"Be careful," I warned. "You hit your head."

All of a sudden, he seemed to come back. The effect was quite comical. "Ow," he said, surprised. "How in the…" he trailed off, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Ninja skills," I deadpanned.

"No, seriously."

"I was standing right next to you," I said, seriously.

He tried to sit up again, and I let him, sliding as far away as I could. He looked at me with large blue eyes. Somewhere, deep, deep, deep within me, something melted.

And then they found us, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.

"Don't move," someone instructed.

"Get Yukito out of the van!" someone else shouted. The idiot tried to get up, but I doubt he could stand right now, legs whole or not.

"Stay."

"But it's _cold!" _he complained. I chuckled. He sounded just like a wet kitten. "You were over there!" he suddenly remembered. "You were by your car!"

My expression changed. "No, I wasn't."

"I saw you." All around us, adults and students were running around like worker ants.

"Look moron, I was standing right next of you and I pulled you out of the way." I looked him in the eye. "Ninja skills."

"No." He…why was he pouting?

"Don't question me."

"Why?" he demanded.

"I can't tell you…not now." I ran a hand distractedly through my hair.

"What about later?"

I could hear sirens in the air. "Fine," I snapped.

"Fine," he repeated angrily.

It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van far enough away from us to bring stretchers in. I managed to persuade them that I was fine, but when the idiot tried to do the same, I interceded. I could feel the hatred rolling off in waves.

Then, Chief Flourite arrived.

"Fai!" he yelled in panic.

"I'm completely fine Yu—Dad," he sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

Like a normal father, he ignored his only child and asked a professional. My family, however, looked absolutely livid.

The ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. When we arrived, I walked right through the doors, needing to find my father figure. Later, I went to visit the stupid blonde.

"He sleeping?"

I stood at the foot of the bed, and his eyes flew open in a glare.

"Hey, Kurogane, I'm really sorry—" Yukito began.

I didn't let him finish. "You didn't kill me," I said, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"So, what's the verdict?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, but they won't let me go," he complained. "How come you aren't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?"

"It's all about your connections," I answered, smirking. "But don't worry, I'll spring you."

Then, my father walked through the door and his mouth dropped open in amazement.

"So, Mr. Flourite," Dr. Reed said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he said, annoyed.

He walked to the lightboard on the wall, and turned it on.

"Your X-rays look good," he said. "Does your head hurt? Kurogane said you hit it pretty hard."

"I'm _fine." _he threw a scowl at me.

The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along his skull, noting where he winced.

"Tender?" he asked.

"Eh."

I chuckled, deep in my throat.

"Well, your father is in the waiting room—you can go home to him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have problems with your eyesight."

"Can't I go back to school?" he asked.

"Maybe you should take it easy today."

He glanced at me. "What about him?"

I smirked. "Someone has to go tell the entire student body that we survived."

"Actually," Dr. Reed corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."

"Oh no," He covered his face, mortified.

Dr. Reed raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"

"No, no," he said hastily, hopping out of the bed too quickly—he staggered, and Dr. Reed caught him. He looked concerned.

"I'm fine," he assured him.

"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested.

"It doesn't hurt that bad!"

"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr. Reed said, smiling as he signed his chart with a flourish.

"Lucky Kuro-tan happened to be standing next to me," he amended.

_WHAT DID THAT BASTARD JUST DO TO MY NAME?_

"Oh, well, yes," Dr. Reed agreed, suddenly occupied by the papers in front of him. I can tell he's trying not to laugh, as well as something else. He moved to look at Yukito.

"I'm afraid you'll have to stay with us a little be longer," he said to Yukito, and he began checking his cuts.

As soon as the doctor's back was turned, Fai tugged on my arm.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he hissed. I took a step away, jaw clenched.

"Your dad is waiting for you," I said through my teeth.

I glanced at Dr. Reed and Yukito.

"I'd like to speak to you alone, if you don't mind," he pressed.

I glared, and then turned my back and strode down the long room. As soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, I spun around to face him.

"What do you want?" I asked, sounding annoyed.

"You owe me an explanation," he reminded me a little weakly. Must've scared him. Good.

"I saved your life—I don't owe you anything."

He flinched. "You promised."

"You hit your head, idiot. You don't know what you're talking about." My tone was cutting.

His temper flared. "There is nothing wrong with my head!"

I glared at him. "What do you want?"

"I want to know the truth!" he yelled. "Why am I lying for you!"

"What do you _think _happened?" I snapped.

It came out in a torrent.

"All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me—Yukito didn't see you either, so don't tell me I'm wrong. That van was going to crush us both, but your hands left dents in the side of the car—the van should have crushed my legs, but you were holding it up…"I could hear the absurdities as they poured out. "…and you said something about 'ninja skills'…you swore!" he looked reproachfully at me.

I was immediately on defence.

"You think I lifted a _van _off of you?"

He nodded.

"Nobody will believe that." My voice held a note of derision.

"I'm not going to tell anyone." He said these words slowly, suppressing anger.

Surprise flitted across my face. "Then why the hell does it matter?"

"It matters to me," he said. "I like to know the truth about things. Tell me why I'm lying for you. Give me a good reason."

"Can't you just forget about it?"

"No."

"In that case…enjoy the torture. I'm not telling you anything."

We scowled at each other. He was the first to speak. "Why did you even bother?" I asked frigidly.

I paused to think about it for a brief moment.

"I don't know," I said softly, lifting a hand to brush his bangs to the side, but deciding against it at the last minute, and dropping it. And then I walked away.

That was the first night I watched Fai D. Flourite in his sleep.

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A/N: Whoo! Two finished chapters in a day! I love copy and paste, don't you? Right, well, this is three chapters in one. Omakes are lovely things, because they always end up telling more in less (for me, anyway). We now know everything from Kuro-chan's POV. Next chapter, I shall continue one with Fai. Kurogane should pop up every few chapters, or so. What'd you think? All of this is fairly original. Using Stephanie Meyer's

_**Midnight Sun **_**doesn't appeal to me—it's not **_**finished. **_

**And, I think we all know that samurai must learn the gentle arts as well as the fighting arts. Cultures are strange. Did I get the suicide thing right? As for Jackson and the 88****th****, that's US History. Funnily enough, it's a political cartoon that was an extra credit test question for me last year. Analyze –quakesinexhaustion-**

**Review, please! I'm pretty sure I messed up somewhere along the line, but I need sleep, because it's a school night. See ya!**


	6. Invitations

**A/N: I have Monday to rant about **_**The Kite Rider. **_**Plus, I've remembered how to write a **_**real **_**Parody. Those last chapters were practice. I'm sorry if I offended you. Scold me, and you probably get a chapter, isn't that nice? Let's get started!**

"**Disclaimer" means "Don't own", for the vocabulary-challenged. **

**Warning: Sudden voice change mean a lot more sudden trivia knowledge. May I suggest Google? Oh, and swearing for those who still have virginal minds. Fai's a lot more colorful than he lets on.**

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4. Invitations  
~ _to Cased in Darkness~_

That night, I dreamed about Kurogane. Okay. 1) Dreaming is normal, and 2) dreaming about classmates is fine. I know a few people who actually do that on a regular basis. The dreams get quite out of hand, actually. Football stadiums, proms, cruise ships…

My dream was _not _normal.

I was happily skipping around in a meadow full of flowers and all of a sudden, Kuro-bright appears—all sparkly and stuff—and he grabbed me by my shirt and—haha, no. Kidding. That's not what happened because there is no way in hell a teenager in the middle of Hell would dream about something that pathetic. Well, there is a _slight _margin, but that's beside the point.

We were in a white room. It was bright, almost blinding, but you could see everything for miles around. There were only the two of us. I decided to do something terribly irrational and tried to hug him. I took a running start, but he always seemed to be out of reach. I began to feel desperate.

"Kurogane! Kurogane!" I reached out, and suddenly the room turned into a negative, black with white shadows. He continued to be cold and unreachable. "Kuro-chan?" Something began to pull me backwards. I felt like Alice, falling through the rabbit hole, spout over teakettle. "Heeelllllp!" Panicked, I woke with a start, and couldn't sleep for what felt like _hours. _After that, my dreams always felt like a CLAMP manga—there's always this _one _character that was in the background, watching, or maybe they play a more key role in this dream.

The month following the accident was almost unbearable. I considered giving myself an actual injury by walking smack into one of the rows of lockers.

To my utmost dismay, I found myself subject to many unwanted advances and attentions. I swear, if that Yukito apologizes _again, _I'm going to scratch his eyes out and then proceed to rip him into teeny tiny Yuki-pieces. Can't we just forgive and forget? That's all I ask for. SHUT UP.

The guy followed me _everywhere—_just like a perfect little stalker—to classes, around the halls, and he now sat at our over-crowded lunch table. Syaoran and Watanuki seemed rather wary of him, which made me worry that I'd gained another...whatever they considered themselves to be.

No one seemed worried about Kurogane. I tried to put him in the spotlight multiple times, saying that he was the hero, but I guess people like victims better. Sakura, Syaoran and Watanuki all swore that they hadn't seen him until that very moment before the crash.

I wondered why they all said that. Then, I realized that no one watched him as obsessively as I did.

Crap.

I need therapy.

When he sat next to me, he gave me the Silent Treatment like a five-year-old. He ignored me and my pitiful attempts at conversation. Eventually, they dwindled to a "Hello, Kuro-pup" at the beginning of the class, to which his hands would bunch up into fists. Knowing that I had this sort of power over him made my days…pleasant, to say the least.

And so my days passed by, although I began to note that his eyes changed color. Normally, they were a bright red, with darker hues underneath, but as his moods shifted; his eyes would darken or brighten into a deep burgundy or a fiery orange-red. It took me a while to notice, but I also saw that his eyes were beginning to lighten into an ocher hue, the pupils growing narrower and more cat-like. I need to get bumped up a grade, if I have nothing to do in Biology like this. And the dreams went on.

Despite the supposed inability to detect mood-shifts through text, my mother could see my depression, and she called. I warded her off with a remark about the weather.

Syaoran, at least, seemed to be happier. He grew confident that Kurogane's sudden rescue had the opposite effect on me, and had begun sitting on the edge of my desk before class, completely ignoring my next door neighbor. He also seemed please that the beach trip was possible. The rain, of course, was ever-present.

Sakura made me aware of another event that I was happily ignoring—she called me for courage in asking out Syaoran to the spring dance in two weeks.

"Are you sure that I can…I mean, he's just so…Fai, I'm _scared!"_ she wailed over the phone.

"Look, Sakura, you two are practically _made _for each other. Come on!" I encouraged her.

"Please?" Her attempt to make me ask him out for her was pathetic, but kind of cute at the same time.

"No," I said firmly. "Have fun at the dance with Syaoran!" I hung up.

The next day, I was surprised that Sakura wasn't her usual moe-self. She was silent as we made our way to Spanish, and I was afraid to ask her why. If Syaoran had turned her down, I was surely the last person she would tell.

My fears were strengthened when she sat as far away from Syaoran as possible. This being a circular table, I can see how difficult that would be. She was pointedly ignoring Syaoran and chatting animatedly to Watanuki about…skillets? That doesn't seem right. Cooking Club students can't possibly be _that _boring, besides, there's a sub-topic of music in there, too.

Syaoran was quiet as well when he walked me to class. He didn't say anything to confirm any of my suspicions until I was in my seat and he was standing awkwardly by my desk. As always, I was painfully aware of Kurogane's presence a foot away from me.

"So," Syaoran said, looking at the floor. "Sakura asked me to the dance."

"That's great!" I chirped. "Have fun!" Nearby, I could practically feel Kuro-nosy grimacing.

"Well…" He floundered when he met my over-enthusiastic smile. "I told her I had to think about it."

"WHAT!" I let my disapproval drown my tone.

His face was bright red as he looked down. Pity _almost _made me crack. Almost.

"Well, I was wondering if…well, if, if, if you might be planning to ask me."

I stared at him, letting the information fully process in my brain. "You what?"

His face could rival Kurogane's eyes in color. "I mean, you, know…"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Wow, poor kid…I couldn't help it. "Look, Syaoran, haha...listen to me _carefully. YOU _are not _GAY. _Haha…" I covered my mouth to trap any more giggles.

His face, oh I swear, it almost exploded. A snicker escaped my hand-trap. _Damn you, cursed sense of warped humor!_

"I'm sorry. You really shouldn't leave Sakura hanging like that," I said through my hands.

"Wait, so are you going to the dance? At all?" He looked so painfully desperate.

"Haha, oops, sorry. No."

"Why not?" Syaoran demanded.

"I'm, ah, going to Seattle." Right, I was in desperate need for book-like objects to fill the gaps of my lonely life at home.

"Can't you go some other time?"

"Ah, no, I'm sorry. I'll probably drop dead before then." Well, morbid humor always did dissuade people from asking any further.

"Right," he mumbled, looking slightly disturbed. "Sorry. I'll go give my answer to Sakura, then..."

Throughout class, Kurogane looked at me curiously, and I returned his glances until I broke and covered my face with my bangs. I AM PATHETIC, I wanted to write across my forehead. But no one would see it, because of my bangs…slight problem.

At the end of class, instead of shooting off like a rocket, he decided to stay and talk to me, like the last _six weeks _had never happened.

"Oi." His voice…his voice shouldn't have been so…so…so FAMILIAR. This isn't right!

I turned slowly, carefully, unwillingly. I didn't want to face him, but I had to face him. A yearly lesson in school etiquette came back to me: "_How would you feel if this happened to you?" _My expression was wary when I finally faced him; his expression was scowling.

"What? Finally speaking to me again, are you? What do you want?" My voice sounded petulant.

"To say s—to say that I don't regret saving you, no matter what you think in that idiot brain of yours."

My eyes narrowed, and I finished gathering up all my books. "Hmph." I flounced as much as I dared (which was not very much because I have an image I'd like to keep) and my toe conveniently caught on the corner of the desk. I face planted and my books spilled out of my arms. "Shit," I growled, picking myself up off the ground. Kuro-help was already standing next to me, books stacked and waiting.

"Thank you," I said icily.

"You're welcome," he retorted. "Swearing's not good for you."

"Hmph." I stalked off towards Gym.

Basketball was terrible. I fell down too much, a couple of times in rather compromising situations. I couldn't wait to get back to my truck. The accident had proven my theory—all I needed to replace were the taillights and the paintjob was fine the way it was. Poor Yukito's parents had to sell their van for the parts.

I almost had a stroke when I rounded the corner and saw a dark figure leaning casually on my truck. Then, I realized it was just Watanuki.

"Hey, Watanuki!" I called.

"Hi, Fai!"

I burst out laughing and he looked at me, confused.

"Haha…sorry. It rhymes. I've been feeling a little off lately. What's up?"

"Uh, well, I was wondering, if, you know…"

"Shouldn't you ask someone like Doumeki?" I climbed into my truck.

"WHAT? THAT BLANK-FACED JERK? WHY THE HELL WOULD I ASK _HIM _OF ALL PEOPLE? HE KEEPS TRYING TO STEAL—" He continued on this vein for several minutes while I strapped myself in and started the truck.

"Yeah, yeah…um, yeah, go ask Doumeki. I've gotta go, bye!" I pulled away from the ranting, spazzing guy.

I would have made it safely into the line of traffic and out of the parking lot if that red-eyed bastard hadn't cut me off. I considered completely plowing through his car, but there were too many witnesses. A quick glance in the rearview confirmed that, as well as tells me that a line was beginning to form, as well as the fact that Yukito was waving enthusiastically from his car behind me. Really, now? I have the worst luck. Another quick glance showed me that he had disappeared from his car. What?

There was a knock on my door and I rolled my window down.

"Yeah?" I smiled as enthusiastically as I could. "I'm sorry Yukito, I'm stuck behind Reed, and would rather not face a lawsuit."

My poor attempt at traffic-humor didn't seem to dissuade him. "Oh, I know—I just wanted to ask you something."

_Fuck. _Shut up, inner-Kuro. It's your real self that taught me that.

"Will you go to the dance with me?" he continued.

My hit my forehead against the steering wheel. "No, Yukito," I said, voice muffled against the wheel. "I'm not. Going. To be. In. Town."

"Yeah, Syaoran said that," he admitted.

"Then _why _the—"

"I figured you were letting him down easy."

I'm going to _kill _that guy and his dense friends. I am going to personally claw every—mangy—piece—of—right. Calm. Calm. Sheathe those imaginary claws.

"Sorry, Yukito," I said. "I really am going out."

"Oh, that's fine. There's always prom!"

Awww, _Hell_ no. I looked forward and saw the members of the Reed family all sliding into the Volvo. I could see Kuro-meanie's eyes smirking at me. My hand itched to flip him the bird. It wouldn't hurt; people do it all the time when they're stuck in traffic. But they were all in and Kurogane drove off.

When I got home, I decided to make Mexican, because I felt the need to have a piece of home in my stomach.

In the middle of simmering chilies and onions, Sakura called, ecstatic because Syaoran had finally given her his answer. I cheered and squee'd with her for a while. She had to go—she had to tell her big brother and Tomoyo. I suggested, with perfect innocence, that maybe Yukito could ask her brother out; they were always seen together, and now seemed like a great time to come out. She thought it was a great idea, and hung up to tell her brother.

I thought about Kurogane Reed while I made dinner. Is he interested in me? Why is he interested in me? Am I interested in him? How much of this new-found "interest" is purely teenage hormones? Does he like me? Why? Is the chicken burning? Crap, it is. Because I didn't want to blow something up, I concentrated more on the dinner until Yuui came home, sniffing the air like a suspicious blood-hound. Again, Chi couldn't cook anything worth, well; I wouldn't be very fair to my mother if I said that. But, he was a police officer, and police officers have to be brave, so he took a bite. And another. And another.

Wow. I guess it wasn't too bad. I waited until he was almost done when I sprung the question.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay if I go to Seattle next Saturday?" I didn't want to ask for permission, but I didn't want him to panic.

"Why?" He seemed surprised.

"Well, I've been feeling that there was a sort of deficiency in the library here, plus I wanted to get a few clothes, so…"

"Are you going to be back by the dance?" he asked. Of course. Trust a _dad _to know when it is.

"With the mileage my truck gets? I'll be lucky enough to get home by Monday!" I pretended to be horrified. "Besides, I don't really like the dance music they have planned."

"Ah…" he seemed disinterested.

The next morning, I parked as far away from the shiny silver Volvo, even if it _did _mean walking the extra five hundred yards to my first class. Getting out, I fumbled with my key and it fell into a puddle. I bent down to get it, and a tan hand flashed out of nowhere and fished it out before I could. I jerked upright and hit my head on the bottom of my side view mirror.

"Ow! How do you do that?" I asked, rubbing the top of my head in irritation.

He held my key, palm out and I took it. "Ninja skills."

"Nuh-uh."

"I REFUSE TO EXPLAIN THE FUCKING MECHANICS OF MY ATHLETIC ABILITY!"

I scowled. "Alright, alright. Sheesh." I started walking, and he kept pace. "Leave me alone," I mumbled.

"I want to ask you something."

"Then _do it _already!"

He smirked. "I was wondering, if, next Saturday—you know, the day of the dance—"

"AAAARGH!" I threw my hands up in exasperation. "WEREN'T YOU LISTENING WHEN I WAS TALKING TO THAT FLUFFY-HAIRED KID? (across the school, Syaoran felt a shiver dance down his back) I'M NOT GOING TO THE DANCE!"

"LET ME FINISH MY FUCKING SENTENCE, FLOURITE!"

"FINE!"

We paused for a moment.

"I heard," said Kurogane with a much calmer voice. "That you were going to Seattle. Want a ride?"

My jaw dropped. "What?"

"Do. You. Want. A . Ride. To. Seattle?"

"With…"

"Me, stupid. I'm asking if you want a ride to Seattle with me." He was scowling now, in irritation.

"Why?"

"ARE YOU DONE WITH COSTA'S LEVELS OF QUESTIONING OR WHAT?" he bellowed. Several heads turned, and kept on turning when they realized who was the one yelling.

I shrank back. "Yeah, I'm done. Why, though?"

He smirked. "Looking at your monstrosity of a car, I doubt you'll make it back by next year."

"HEY!" That was uncalled for. "My truck works fine!"

"But can it make it there on one tank of gas?"

I grumbled irately. "How is this any of your business?"

"Because," he said. "I care for the environment." He left me sputtering in his wake.

"Oh, and I'd skip Biology today," he called out, walking backwards.

"YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

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A/N: It's better, isn't it? Please review.


	7. Blood Type

**A/N: Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have just waded through three chapters of crap, an omake and something else. This proves that you are indeed either a very dedicated reader, someone hoping for improvements with the plot, been forced to read this, have nothing better to do, or are a diehard Twilight and/or TRC fan :D Yaaaay! I have actually figured out what I've been trying to do. I read **_**Pride and Prejudice and Zombies**_** and thought, hey, that's what **_**I **_**wanted to do. But, it turns out that it's only interesting if you replace the characters with monsters…**

**Flamers, be warned—all you'll get is a thank you note for giving me a good laugh.**

**All I have is a growing pile of used tissues, a pile of homework, a pile of library books, a bitchy brother and a cold. Please, don't make the non sequitur that I own anything of value.**

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5. Blood Type

_~Decisions, decisions~_

I sat through English in a daze. My mind was busy fumbling with the warning Kuro-doof had given me. Yes, I'm still mad at him. Why did he tell me not to go to Bio? Is he trying to avoid me? BASTARD. Does he hate me that much? Is Bio, today at least, dangerous for a klutz like me? He does have the odd habit of looking out for me. Or maybe he has…

I looked down on the piece of paper I was supposed to be taking notes on. Crap, did I really just write down everything I was thinking? I quickly crossed out the errant thoughts and scribbled something about _Wuthering Heights _down.

The rest of the morning passed while I continued to ponder his words, steadily growing more frustrated as the periods slipped by and I still didn't have an answer. I was a nervous wreck by the time lunch came around. Sakura looked at me worriedly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked concernedly.

"No, no…" I trailed off dismissively and pasted a large smile on my face.

"Oh. Ok. 'Cause I thought that, you know, 'cause Kurogane Reed is staring at you ag—"

"WHAT?" I jumped and looked around nervously. Yes. Of course. Sakura would never lie to me. There he was, red eyes drilling right. Into. My. Back.

Our eyes met and he jerked his head in a "come hither" motion.

"Does he mean you?" whispered Sakura. Her hand snaked over and squeezed mine nervously. Silently, I pointed at myself and raised an eyebrow. He nodded.

"I guess," I muttered back. "Maybe he needs help with Biology, or something."

Sakura let go of my hand and let me walk relatively normally over to Kurogane. I could feel her eyes watching my back. Once I reached the table, I hesitated over one of the stools.

"Sit," Kurogane told me tersely.

I sat and waited for him to say something. Sakura was still assessing the situation carefully. I turned and waved an all-clear. She noticeably let out a large breath and turned to engage Syaoran in a conversation. Then, I turned back to the big puppy sitting in front of me.

"So," I chirped brightly. "What do need?"

"Well, first of all, drop the damn smile."

I dropped the smile. "What do you want?" I repeated.

"I figure that if I'm going to Hell, I might as well do it right."

"Whatever could you mean by that, Kuro-pun?" I smirked inwardly at the name.

He frowned, but didn't say anything. Instead, he said, "Look. I'm tired of running away all the time, so I'm just going to let everything run its course, and see where I end up."

I tilted my head, smiling slightly now. "What? You want to be friends now?"

"I didn't say that."

We lapsed into a silence, heavy with thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" he suddenly asked. "You've been staring at me like that for the past five minutes."

"Huh?" I startled out of my reverie. "Oh, I'm trying to figure out what makes you tick." I poked him on the nose, and he swatted at my hand.

"Are you having any luck?" he asked nonchalantly.

I shook my head.

He smirked. "Theories?"

I hid my face underneath my bangs. "I'd rather not say," I mumbled, face suddenly uncomfortably hot.

"Tell me," he persisted.

"Why? Is it because you don't like being kept in the dark? Because I know _that _feeling all too well. Why won't you explain how you saved me when I was about to be a mere splatter on the asphalt? Why are you always alone, treated like a pariah? Why won't you answer my questions?" I said loudly.

We stared at each other. Neither of us was smiling in the least. His eyes flickered over my shoulder and he frowned.

"What now?"

"Your _girlfriend _seems to be debating whether or not she should come break this up."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh, yeah?" His tone was still lightly bantering, but his face seemed ever so slightly pleased.

"Mmh." We lapsed back into silence again. We keep doing that. I wonder why. It's sort of…suffocating. "…Can you do me a favor?" I asked after a moment.

"Depends." His expression turned guarded.

"Don't worry. It's nothing illegal, I promise. I just…wanted you to…well, I want you to warn me the next time you decide to ignore me for my own good."

He paused for a moment, turning the request around in his head, probably searching for loopholes. "…Fine. But you owe me."

"Owe you what?"

"One theory."

Oh _hell _no. I should have known he would have done this. If you give him something to chew on, he sticks to it like a dog to a bone. "Um…"

His face settled into its usual scowl. "I'm not going to laugh, moron, just tell me a theory and I'll get off your case."

I squirmed under his gaze. Well…there was _one…_but I would be placing an awful lot on the line…"You're gay."

"WHAT?"

"I mean, think about it," I started to babble. "You don't go out with girls, you never seem to be interested in girls, you never talk about your life, and you're always hanging around your brothers, who are, by the way, _gay." _I don't know how I got that, but when life gives you lemons, it expects you to make lemonade. Which I did. It wasn't very good lemonade, though, judging by Kurogane's facial expression.

"WHAT?"

"…"

"WHERE THE _HELL _DID YOU GET THE IDEA THAT I WAS _GAY, _OF ALL THINGS?" A vein popped in his forehead. "FOR ALL YOU KNOW, I COULDN'T BE LESS INTERESTED IN THAT DAMN GAME CALLED 'DATING!'"

"So…you're not gay?"

The vein noticeably throbbed and Kurogane pinched the bridge of his nose. "No," he said after a deep breath. "Not at all."

"Asexual, then?"

"No."

"Um…Necrophile?"

"What the _hell, _Flourite."

"Dang," I sighed.

"I'm not bi, either."

"Hyuu~! I didn't think of that one!" This game was weird. I looked around us and noticed that the tables were almost all empty. When had the bell rung? I jumped to my feet. "Shoot, we're going to be late! You coming?"

Kurogane leaned back, smirking, with his arms behind his head. "Nah…I don't think it would be a good idea to go to Bio today."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself. I, for one, am not a fan of cutting class." I left him sitting there, that irritating smirk on his face. What's his deal, anyway?

I was late to class, sidetracked by something shiny, but luckily enough; the teacher was also sidetracked by that same shiny thing. I sat down in my seat and the teacher placed two large boxes on Syaoran's desk.

"Ok, guys, I want you to take one piece from each of the boxes," he said, taking out a lighter from the pocket of his lab jacket and flicked it open. The little click of the lighter opening and the silent flame springing up from the spark generated seemed ominous to me. "The first thing is a copy of _Lord of the Rings_…whatever part of it you got, it doesn't matter_," _he went on, grabbing a small paperback book out of the book. "The other should be a handful of tinder." He held up a small pile of shredded newspaper. "Then I want you to carefully pile the tinder onto the top of the book cover…" he herded the shredded newspaper into a neat pyramid on top of the book.

Oh no. Clammy moisture broke out across my palms. I swallowed convulsively.

"And I will come around and carefully light the tinder." He lowered the open lighter carefully so that it just barely touched the tinder. I closed my eyes, trying to hear across the ringing in my ears…

"AAAAAAARGH!" I jumped up and ran out of the classroom. _Book burning is W-R-O-N-G! _

"Fai, wait!" the teacher called. "I haven't even lit anything yet!"

I ran until I was out of the building. I sat down on the sidewalk and put my head in between my knees, trying to regulate my breathing. Where on _earth _did it say "book burning" in the school curriculum?

"Oi, moron. What the hell are you doing?"

No! Please let me be imagining this horribly familiar voice…Please, please, please…

"No," I groaned. "Go away."

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again. _Moron." _I felt a pair of strong arms lifting me up and throwing me over something hard and up high.

"Hey! Put me down!" _Before I vomit, _I added silently.

"Relax, it's just my shoulder, idiot." The mass began to move, and a wave of dizziness overtook me. "I told you not to go to class today, stupid. Why didn't you listen to me?"

I didn't answer; too afraid that if I opened my mouth, I would spill enzymes, stomach acids and whatever carbohydrates, proteins and fats I happened to have in my stomach all over the back of his jacket.

I must have spaced out, because the air was suddenly warm, and the first thing I heard was a woman gasping "Oh my!"

"He panicked in Biology," Kurogane explained.

I opened my eyes and saw the welcoming vanilla-ness of the office. Kurogane swung me gently into the nurse's office and laid me gently down on the crinkly paper that covered the burgundy vinyl mattress.

The nurse looked up from her novel and nodded sagely. "There's always one."

I swear he was smirking.

"Just lie down for a minute, honey; it'll pass."

"I know," I sighed. I felt better already.

"Does this happen a lot?" she asked.

"It's not every day you get to participate in a book-burning exercise," I said wryly.

"True. You can go back to class now," she added to Kurogane.

"I'm supposed to stay with him." His eyes dared her to challenge him. She faltered.

"I'll just…go get some ice," she said to me, and then hurried out of the room.

"You were right," I admitted reluctantly. "Ditching _is _healthy."

He snorted. "No, really?" he said sarcastically.

I thought about a few things for a moment. "Poor Syaoran, he must be really worried. I mean, I _did _run out of the classroom screaming bloody murder."

"Oh, that was you? I thought it was some banshee," he snorted. "As for that kid, he's completely terrified of me."

"How d'you know?"

"The way he acts around me."

"Oh. Um…so what were you doing, seeing as you weren't in class?"

"I was in my car, listening to a CD."

Mm? How normal.

The door opened, and the nurse bustled in with a cold compress in her hand.

"Here you go, dear." She laid it across my forehead. "You're looking better," she added.

"I think I'm fine," I said, smiling slightly. I sat up, and the walls stayed where they were.

The door opened again, and the receptionist stuck her head in. "We've got another one," she warned.

I hopped down to free the cot for the next poor kid. "Here," I said, giving the compress back. "I won't need this."

And then Syaoran staggered in, now supporting a wide-eyed, shocked-looking girl, another of our Biology class. Kurogane and I drew back to let them in.

"Let's go," he whispered in my ear. I nodded and left with him following close behind.

We stood awkwardly in the waiting room until Syaoran came out. The look he gave Kuro-scary was one of a terrified deer. He looked back at me.

"So, are you going to this weekend? To the beach?" he asked nervously.

I smiled at him to make him feel at ease. Ish. "Sure, I said I was in."

"We're meeting at my dad's store, at ten." His eyes flickered to Kurogane again. His body language made it clear that Kurogane was not one of his most favorite people in the world.

"I'll be there," I promised.

"See you in Gym, then," he said, moving uncertainly towards the door.

"See you," I replied, another easy grin stretching my face. He left, and I groaned. "Gym…"

"I'll take care of that," muttered Kurogane into my ear. "Sit and look sick."

I sat and looked sick. Anything to get out of my personal hell.

Kurogane terrori—I mean asked politely for the receptionist to let me off the hook for the day.

"…Do you need to be excused, too?"

"No, I have Japanese next. The teacher won't notice."

"Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better, Fai," she called to me. I nodded.

"Can you walk, or would you like me to carry you again?" With his back to the receptionist, his trademark smirk returned.

I tried to not blush. RARGH. BASTARD. "I'll walk," I muttered.

We walked out of the office and into the rain. For once, I was glad that it was there. It would revive me a little more from the dizzy spell.

"So…are you going? This Saturday, I mean?" I was already half-hoping that he'd say yes.

"Where are you all going, exactly?"

"Down to La Push, to First Beach." I tried to read his neutral expression.

He glanced at me. "Let's not push Syaoran any farther," he said wryly.

"Syaoran-shaoran," I muttered.

"I'm sorry, was that supposed to sound different?"

I growled. He snickered. We were near the parking lot now. I veered left, towards my truck, but he stopped me with a tug of my jacket.

"Where the _hell _do you think you're going, eh?" he asked, outraged, it seems.

"Home?" Why was he doing this?

"Didn't you hear me promise to take you home? You think I'm just gonna let you drive when you can barely see straight?" Silly Kuro-ii sounded indignant.

"What about my truck?" I complained.

"I'll have Kamui take it home after school." AH, now _there's _a funny thought, letting one of those miniscule boys drive my truck. They probably couldn't see over the dashboard. He was towing me towards his car now. I tried my best not to fall over. He'd probably just drag me along if I did anyway.

"Wai! Kuro-pi's so _pushy!" _I wailed when I slammed against the passenger side door.

"In," he said tersely. I could see a vein pulsing at the corner of his temple.

I stood still, rain running down the back of my neck while I considered my options.

"I'll just drag you back, moron. Get _in." _

I acquiesced, knowing full well that he would do just that, given the chance.

"This," I said stiffly, "is completely unnecessary."

He ignored me, fiddling with the buttons of his radio. I looked out the window, wondering what the hell he could be looking for. Then, soft classical music drifted into my ears.

"June—erm, Barcarolle?" I asked, surprised.

"You know Tchaikovsky?"

"Guy who wrote the Nutcracker Suite, right?"

"Yeah."

"Mum adores his music," I said with a British accent for the effect that didn't come with an American one.

He grunted.

The landscape whizzed by while inside the car, we were still.

"What's your mother like?" he asked me suddenly.

"Well…she looks like me, except older…and not a guy...why?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Nothing. Just curious."

"Mmh…what about you? What are your parents like?"

"The Reeds adopted me. My birth parents died a long time ago." His tone betrayed his pain.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," I whispered sadly.

"I don't really remember them, though. Clow and that witch have been my parents for a long time."

I laughed a little. "'Witch?'"

"She sure acts like one," he grumbled.

"And you love them?"

"...you could say that," he admitted reluctantly. He looked at the dashboard and I glanced out the window.

"When did we get to my house?" I asked, surprised.

"A while ago." His fiery eyes danced. "Now scram. Seishiro won't be pleased if I let Subaru catch a cold."

I raised an eyebrow. "Being chauffer has its drawbacks, ne?" I asked before climbing out.

"No really?" he drawled before pulling away from my driveway. "Do me a favor," he said before speeding away, "and don't fall in, 'kay?"

And he was gone. It took me a moment to realize what had just happened. I stood, unsure of how to react.

Stupid. Fucking. Kuro-ass.

**

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A/N: …and that's a wrap, folks. Any offense caused by my writing was probably unintentional, unless you hate this fic's guts. Review, please.


	8. Scary Stories

**A/N: That well of emotion that tightens the chest, that you suppress, that never manages to make it out to break the stillness of the air? That is the saddest, most manic feeling ever. But one I know so well. And I love it.**

**I know I've been gone a long time, but dealing with...stuff…is hard. There's only been one person ever who's seen through my act, except she changed classes. Haha…(Wonder what happened to her) But, I've busted out of the blue funk and I've got school under control now, so…I've got free time :) rejoice! Rejoice!**

**Nah, you don't have you. Just read, 'kay? And review if you want, but flames will be used to make hot chocolate. I don't own anything except for the seventy cents I've got to pay to the library because they revamped the entire catalog and screwed up due dates.**

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6. Scary Stories  
_~Lies. All lies.~_

As I sat in my room, trying to concentrate on the incredibly small, tiny text of the impossibly thick third volume of _War and Peace, _I kept peeking out my window every few seconds to check for my truck. And then suddenly, the truck appeared, sometime in between Peeks No. 981034 and No. 981035. Suspicious…?

I wasn't looking forward at all to the next day, which would most definitely be full of concern, whether real or mocking. Sakura seemed genuinely concerned, though, knowing her, I doubt she was able to be even _vaguely _dishonest about her feelings. Thankfully, Syaoran had kept to his word and kept his mouth shut. No one made any jabs at Kurogane's involvement. But then again, no one seemed to talk about the Reeds any more than they had to in the first place, so, moot point, really.

"So what did Kurogane want yesterday?" Sakura whispered to me in Trig.

"Oh, nothing, really," I flapped my hand at her. "He never said anything too interesting. I think I did most of the talking, actually."

"You looked kinda mad, though," she probed.

"Did I?" Damn, for all the air in her head, she sure was sharp.

"You know," she stated softly, finger on her chin. "I've never seen him sit with anyone outside of his family…"

"Odd," I agreed, wishing desperately to get away from this topic. Thankfully, she returned to her worksheets and didn't press me any farther.

The part that thrilled my otherwise dull, grey, typical Friday, though, was when I glanced at the Reeds' table and noticed only the twins and Seishiro sitting there. I couldn't help but hiss a little "Yess!" which caused a couple people to look around for a leak in the ceiling. I didn't know how long I wouldn't get to see him, but I knew that I would be missing my lone ability to poke fun at him without getting bitten while he was gone.

At our table, Syaoran was consulting several different printout weather forecast charts. "Tomorrow seems warm—highs in the 60s, and partly cloudy. Might not be a bust after all." Beside him, Primera sniffed haughtily. "I don't see _why _Fai still sits here when he so _obviously _enjoys Reed's company _so _much better."

_Listen you mangy, complaining little—"_He's my friend," Sakura interrupted my thoughts a bit angrily, "so he stays." I shot her a grateful smile.

That night, when I asked Yuui about the La Push Beach Party, he seemed quite content to let me do whatever. Then I wondered about whether or not I should tell him about Kuro-ass' _invitation _to take me down to Seattle. Well, now that I think about it, I never really did give him an answer. Eh, boys like him always take that as a "yes."

The next morning, I woke to a dazzling yellow brightness that had been absent during my short stay at Forks, a la Washington. Flinging open the windows, I couldn't believe my eyes. I squeezed them shut hard, pinched myself a couple of times on the arm—_hard—_to make sure I wasn't dreaming and opened them again. _YES. It was still there. _

With an insanely bright grin on my face, I skipped breakfast in favor of the vitamin D outside and drove to the antiques store that Watanuki worked at for some mysterious boss. I saw Syaoran's Suburban and Yukito's new Sentra and pulled up in the empty space in between. A group of familiar people had already gathered: Syaoran, Sakura, Tomoyo, Touya (so it was going to be one of _those _days, huh?),Yukito, Primera, Watanuki, and a small blonde girl I was vaguely certain I had English with named Sue.

"Hi, Fai!" Sakura waved. "You made it!" Next to her, Tomoyo raised the camera around her neck.

"Say cheese, Fai!" I smiled in response as her Nikon clicked.

"We're just waiting for Shogo and Doumeki to show up," Syaoran explained. "Unless, of course, you've invited someone?"

"Nah," I shook my head. "You've already invited everyone on my list," I lied easily.

"Wanna ride in my car? You won't be as squished as in Shogo's minivan."

"Alright."

"You've got shotgun, then," he promised me, much to my utter dismay.

Shogo arrived, bringing with him two extra people, along with Doumeki, and I managed to wedge Sakura in between myself and Syaoran. The two could have been more graceful about it, but it was fun watching them blush and even more amusing to look at Touya's glowering face in the backseat.

La Push was close—fifteen minutes, tops—so it didn't take long until we could get the hell out of the claustrophobic car. The beach itself was majestically cold-looking. Even in the sunlight, the water was grey and broiling, frothing continuously around the little grey rock islands jutting out here and there. The beach itself was grey sand that smoothed out to grey rocks the farther you got from the water. On closer inspection the rocks held an assortment of color: green-grey, lavender-grey, blue-grey, maroon-grey, grey-grey…

The wind tousled my hair, making it look, if possible, even more windswept than it usually was. Syaoran led the way, picking his way through the rocks towards a ring of white-grey driftwood logs that surrounded a somewhat charred fire circle partially filled with dark-grey ashes. Sakura and I held onto each to keep from slipping and breaking our necks on the rock while Tomoyo snapped picture after picture of half-stormy, half-sunny grey landscape.

"You ever seen a driftwood fire?" Shogo asked me with his arm around Primera. Doumeki and Sue were carefully stacking a pile of driftwood in the charred circle.

"No," I kept my eyes on the lit twig that Watanuki was now moving towards the pile. About six inches away, he gave up and just threw the make-shift match onto the wood.

"Watch," Shogo instructed as Tomoyo added her own lit twig to the pile.

I watched, and before my eyes, the wood began to burn. The flames, though, were not what I had expected.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Sakura asked me.

"Well, it's blue…" Beside me, Tomoyo stopped taking pictures for a moment.

"Like your eyes, right?" she prodded slyly. "The salt does it."

"I guess…Hyuu! Now it's green!" I grinned, enjoying the oddly colored flames as they licked up the sides of the petrified wood.

After a while, I wandered away to take a look at the tide pools which I had so loved when I was younger. Watching the small fish and crustaceans flit around the anemone underwater, I barely heard their shouts of "Food!" until they called my name. Embarrassed, I hurried over to claim my share, barely acknowledging the fact that our party had now expanded to include several others. The boy I had sat next to scooted closer.

"I'm Ashura," he said. I choked on my soda.

"Jesus, man, don't scare me like that!"

"Ohp, sorry. Didn't mean to do that." He flashed me an easy grin. "Anyway, you're Fai, right? You bought my dad's old truck."

"Oh. You're Yasha's son. Nice to meet you." I shook his proffered hand, taking in his sleek, if a bit pale, profile. Long black hair. Deep black eyes. Tall, even for his age, which was betrayed by the hint of boyish roundness in his face. "I don't know if I should remember you, though…"

"I doubt it. You probably spent more time with my sisters."

"Eh…I guess." The fishing trips were a little hazy. I probably spent more time napping in a tree than with them, anyway. "Are they here?" I scanned the crowd.

"No." Ashura shook his head, making that glossy black hair fan out a little bit over his shoulders. "The older one's at WaSu. The younger one's married in Hawaii."

"Hyuu! Impressive!" Obviously, I've been out of it for a while.

"So," he began with a slightly mischievous glint in his eye, "how's the truck?"

"Runs great. Slow, but great."

He cackled. "Yeah. Just don't try to get it over sixty."

"What happens then?"

His hand, which had somehow crept onto my knee, fell off with an impressive sound effect. "Pllbht."

"Oh."

He cackled again. "At least it's a monster that'll get out of a nuclear bombing alive. Makes up for speed. After all, the turtle _did _beat the rabbit."

"Okay…I don't know what Aesop has to do with cars, but I'll go with it."

"And, if you ever see a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagon Rabbit, tell me."

"_Ohhh…_I get it now!"

"Sure you do." He laughed again. His voice was pleasantly smooth and nice on the ears after listening to Touya's teeth grinding themselves down to the nub, or the shrieks of girls running through ice-cold ocean water.

"So Fai," Primera butted in, "It's a pity none of the Reeds came. Do you know why?"

"On the contrary," I shot back, grinning, "I think it's wonderful that they didn't come. After all, if they came, we would have to suffer through the cooings of your pathetic flirtations." She recoiled, eyes narrowed.

"Also," Ashura said mildly, "The Reeds don't ever come down here." But why did it sound so hostile? I wanted to know more.

"Hmph." Primera flounced back to Shogo, who engaged her in a stimulating conversation on the bomb-proof-i-ness of plastic casing.

"So, Ashura." I leaned slightly into him. "Know any scary stories?" I looked up from the corner of my eye.

"Lots," he promised. "Do you want to hear one?"

"Well, it depends. What've you got?"

"Well, there is this one legend…" he dithered.

"Yes? Go on," I coaxed.

"…about the _cold ones," _his voice dropped ominously low.

"Hey guys!" Syaoran interrupted. "Ashura's telling a story!" Well, might as well make it a public one. Everyone scrambled over to take a seat. Tomoyo set her camera on recording a new segment and trained it on Ashura.

Ashura shrugged and threw a look at me. "Go ahead," I coaxed again.

"Well, in the time of my great-grandfather, we were apparently all werewolves. And there was only one thing the werewolves feared, hated, and wanted dead—the _cold ones. _Now, these cold ones came to our territory one day and ran into my great-grandfather. Apparently, they claimed that they didn't hunt like regular ones, and so my great-grandfather made a treaty with them. They were also carrying something unusual." He stopped.

"What was it?" asked Sue, turning her Bambi eyes on him.

"It was," he paused for effect, "a feather."

"A _what?" _exclaimed four voices of disbelief.

"That is _the _stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say," Touya groused.

"Aw, man, the mood's been _ruined," _complained Shogo.

"C'mon, guys! Shut up and let him finish!" Tomoyo half-barked at them.

"Well, anyway, the feather. They said that they came in peace because they couldn't afford to die without getting the feather to its rightful owners first. So, yeah. Peace treaty. But according to rumor, these _cold ones _are still around today. Some of my people say that it's the Reeds."

"Really?" I couldn't keep quiet. It was getting interesting.

"Really," he confirmed. "At first, there were only two of them, but now, there are more. In reality, though, they're nothing more than blood-drinkers." He smiled darkly.

Sakura shivered. "You're a good story-teller," she told him.

"And add another one to cult fiction, why doncha?" Watanuki groaned.

"But, it _was _a good story, at least," argued Primera.

"So, what about it?" Ashura asked playfully, nudging my shoulder. "You think we're a bunch of superstitious natives, or that my story's got some truth in it?"

"I think that you're a very, very good raconteur," I conceded opinion-less-ly. I couldn't let him know what I was thinking right now. It would be the end of me and my tiny, tiny reputation among my friends. "Cult fiction," as Watanuki called it.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing because I haven't the faintest clue what it means?"

"I think it's a good thing." Across from me, Syaoran looked up at the sky and checked his watch.

"Agh! It's already six! We've gotta go, guys!" There was a mad scramble of people gathering things, putting out the fire, and saying goodbyes.

"I'll come up to Forks sometime," Ashura promised me. "As soon as I get my license."

I waved back tentatively. "I'm sure you will," I murmured almost inaudibly. "I'm sure you will."

On the ride back to Syaoran's store, and then my drive alone back home, I tried very, very hard not to dwell on the immense possibilities that had opened up with that one small story. Google, I could tell, was calling me.

**

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**

A/N: Sue's from Clover (by CLAMP.) I think she's a very sweet girl whose wish should definitely be granted. And I'm sure you've all heard of Aesop's fables and

_**War and Peace**_**. And as long as we're on the topic of facts from fiction, I'll stick with actual cars and places because 1) I have minimal knowledge of the differences of car models and their insides and 2) they're real places that people (authors included) can't lay claim on. Unless you're from Washington, which is an **_**entirely **_**different story. WaSu = Washington State University. In my opinion, UW is **_**way **_**better.**


	9. Nightmare

**A/N: I don't own anything. Do you own anything? I don't. Do you? No of course you don't. Neither do I. But I do have 3-inches' worth of US history packets and a growing stack of Islam ones. Would you like a black market study guide? The math packets do exist, but I'm not allowed to tell you what color they are because it's trademarked by **_**my **_**math teacher. Haha…**

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7. Nightmare  
_~It starts tonight~_

I decided that I wouldn't bother Yuui about trivial details such as my comings and goings from the house, but I made a loud clattering as I ran up the stairs.

"Hey Fai," I heard him call.

"Homework!" I yelled back. I was desperate to fend off Google's song. _No, _I promised myself. _No Google for you. _

I searched through my things until I found a CD player and an unopened AC/DC CD, courtesy of Hideki as one of his many birthday presents. Ah, Hideki. How long had he been with my mother? I thought back, cold nostalgia fingering my heart. Since I was fourteen. Well, I suppose he's good enough for her…

I inserted the CD and pressed play, jamming the headphone over my ears. I looked to the back of the CD case. The first one was "Fly on the Wall."

Ok. I could live with that.

I let the guitar riffs drag me away from thoughts of Google and Ashura's story. I couldn't understand the lyrics too well, but that was fine. I found that, as I lay on my bed listening to the music, I quite liked the band. Slowly, my eyes drifted shut.

I sat up in an unfamiliar place. "Where am I?" I asked the air around me.

"_Fai…" _Arms snaked around my waist, holding me to a large chest.

"What?" I asked, confused and craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the mysterious captor.

"_Don't go," _the mysterious captor said. _"Don't leave me."_

"What?" I tried to say again, but my mouth was sewn shut. But I could hear voices echoing in my head.

"_Run…" _they said. "_Run away…Run!"_

The arms disappeared. I ran. I ran, but I didn't seem to go anywhere. I ran, but I was running in place. I ran, and ran into something solid. Something warm. Something human. Something familiar. I wrapped my arms around his neck and inhaled his heady scent. How did I know what he smelled like? I don't know. It was comforting, though. His arms, too, snaked around my waist, but instead of struggling, I pressed closer.

"_Trust me," _he whispered into my hair. And we fell backwards…

My eyes flew open in a panic. Breathing hard, I scrabbled at the blankets that were tangled around my body and sat up. I reached up to brush my hair back and felt a slim, breakable band of plastic. Intrigued, I yanked it off, much to my ears' pain.

"Oh." They were the headphones. I put them neatly on top of the CD player and looked at my body. I had fallen asleep fully dressed. I glanced at the clock. _Holy SHIT. 5:30? _I had fallen asleep for the _entire night _fully dressed.

I groaned. I gathered a change of clothes and dragged my butt over to the bathroom. I needed a shower.

In the shower, I remembered what I didn't want to remember—the overwhelming need to go Google "vampires." Slowly, a feeling of oppression constricted my chest. _I. Need. To. Go. Google. Vampires. I NEED. To._

And so I did. And the voice in my head smugly whispered, _I knew it. I kneeeeew it. You have no impulse control! Small wonder you have a clean record. _"Shut up, Voice." Well, actually, I turned on my computer. That was about it. Apparently, here in the backwoods, you need to learn how to thrive on DSL and pay-per-view, or become the shut-in of the century. In the mean time, I made my bed for the first time in weeks, and made myself breakfast. And ate it. And washed the dishes. And organized my desk. And took a nap. _Then, _my internet was ready.

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I set my homepage on Google. I typed in "vampires," and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as slow….

I ended up finishing my Trig homework out of sheer boredom. And then doing next week's. And the rest of the packet. God, my math teacher is awful.

_Then, _Wikipedia finished loading.

I started scrolling and held my breath; praying that the lag wouldn't force me to wait because then I'd be doing biology worksheets and reading more _War and Peace_.

I clicked on "2.3 Medieval and later European Folklore." And my computer lagged. Damn. It. _When _it finished loading, I started scanning the text. A quote from Voltaire particularly caught my eye:

_These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made this good cheer._

Okay. Kuro-can was definitely _not _European, but I wasn't so sure about his adoptive father, the famous Mr. Clow Reed. But still…corpses were _cold. _Supposed to be, anyway. Kurogane was _hot. _Like, close to _feverish. _I was confused. Maybe I was really off. I scrolled down to the Asian folklore.

…_The mandurugo is a variety of the aswang that takes the form of an attractive girl by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, thread-like tongue by night. The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim. The __manananggal__ is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings and prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in their homes. They use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck fetuses from these pregnant women._

They sounded like mosquitoes, not the poor, sparkly, pale, immortal, inhumanly strong, fanged victims of cult fiction. Not that Ashura actually _mentioned _all of those. Watanuki mentioned cult fiction, so I just assumed that… Not that Kurogane was. I mean, yeah, he _was _inhumanly strong, but inhumanly is a relative term. Maybe I was just inhumanly weak. Maybe I was wrong after all.

With that in mind, I checked my email. But first, I did my biology worksheets. Eww…I'm never looking at plants the same way again.

I scanned through all of the emails that my mom had written, shooting off a fast response to ward off her growing worry that I wasn't replying. The last email threatened to call the CIA to track me down. I highly doubt she knew half of what she was talking about. I love her. Logging off my email, I opened a Word document and did my analysis for _War and Peace. _After all, if I was going to get ahead on homework, why not stop procrastinating?

The day ended with extreme productivity—the kind that only exists in the most elite circle of nerdiness. I slept late, and woke up early again, too buzzed from the productivity to worry about sleep. All I wanted was to get to school. Outside my window, the air was clear and empty of rain.

Yuui was reading the newspaper when I came down. Looking at my bright smile, he commented, "Nice day out, isn't it?"

"Yup, sure is!" I cheered. He smiled back at me, and I could see how my mother always told me I looked like him, and the only thing I got from her was a love of bright colors and klutziness. His blonde hair and blue eyes, so much like mine, were fading, but the smile he gave me brought them back to life. It was easy to see why my mother had fallen in love with him in the past. There was a steady brightness that came when he smiled. A smile that radiated dependability.

I ate breakfast, cheerfully saying goodbye to Yuui when he left for work in his cruiser, and drove to school much earlier than usual. I wanted to enjoy the rising sun while it lasted. I parked my car and spread out with my homework on the rarely used picnic tables outside the cafeteria. I read through my paper on _War and Peace, _hoping with all my might that none of it sounded awkward, discontinuous, or unclear. I would be in very, very deep shit if it was.

"Fai!" someone called and I jumped around in surprise. Oh. It was Syaoran.

"Hello, Syaoran," I said, if a bit dully. Hopefully, the bright, lying grin that had pasted itself on my face would cover it up.

He sat next to me, and picked up a paper for Social Studies. "Aw, man, you've already done it?" he groaned.

"Done what?" I asked, momentarily confused. "Oh…yeah, that. Yeah. I got bored over the weekend."

"When's it due?"

"Umm…like, Wednesday or something. I'm not sure. Who's your teacher again?"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. I've got a couple of days, at least," he mumbled half to himself.

"If you're sure," I said dismissively.

"Actually, Fai, I would really appreciate it if you would help me on the paper," he said sheepishly.

"Why? You're normally a genius when it comes to SS!"

"Well…Islam is complicated. Too many Muhammads and caliphs and bombs. Why don't we discuss this over dinner or something?" I could tell the compliment had given him the push of confidence he needed. I immediately took it back in my head.

"Look, first of all, there's only _one _Muhammad. He's Allah's prophet and preached from 612 to 632. Second of all, there are only six important caliphs: the four Rightly Guided ones—Abu Bakr, the first (632-634); Umar, the second (634-644); Uthman, (644-656); Ali, (656-661)—Mu'awiyah (661-680), founder of the Umayyad dynasty (661-750); and Hussein, Ali's son, who was martyred at Karbala in 680. Thirdly, the bombs have _nothing _to do with Islam, religiously. Sort of. And lastly, _ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND?" _I half-yelled at him, irritated at his lack of sight.

"Wha…?" he asked, plainly bewildered.

"_Sakura_, you _idiot_!" I hissed. "You like _her, _not _me! _I'm not blind! I can SEE!"

"Oh," he said, flushing red when I mentioned her name. I calmed myself down.

"To be very honest with you, I think you're mixing platonic love with romantic love." Geez, for a sixteen-year-old boy, he sure was _clueless. _He and Sakura would make such a great couple.

The bell rang then, saving me from the teeth-pullingly painful un-mixing of confused facts. I heaved a sigh of relief, not caring about if Syaoran was around or not, and gathered my stuff, shoving them rather messily into my backpack. Oh well. I'd organize it later.

When I saw Sakura in Trig, she was rocking back and forth in excitement. Apparently, she, Tomoyo, and that nice little girl Sue were going dress shopping for the dance. And she wanted me to come with her. Now, _normally, _I'd agree. _Normally. _But right now, I was too worried about other things (namely, Kurogane's mysteriousness), to give to a definitive answer. If Yuui said yes, I told her, I'd go. Of course, I knew he would let me. No doubt, with a strange look, but he would still let me.

At lunch, I didn't see Kurogane. Something in my body lifted, and when I successfully avoided sitting next to Syaoran in favor of Yukito and saw him chivalrously pull a chair out for Sakura, I was damn near euphoric.

Yukito chuckled at the stupid grin that was plastered across my face. "I know the feeling. I remember back when they were just tiny, tiny children..." The senior shivered a bit at the memory. "I couldn't figure out why they were following me around so obsessively."

The rest of the day passed rather dreamily. I could only remember hazy details—mostly of the wondrous extra space that occurred when a Biology partner was absent and the rules of archery, which I wasn't half-bad at. Homework, for some odd reason, was non-existent to me for the first time since starting high school, and I had time to kill.

I decided to read some of the old paperbacks that Yuui had, probably relics from my mother. Eventually, I fell asleep on the couch until Yuui came home. He woke me up with a gentle shake of the shoulders.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he whispered to me. "Go to sleep in your bed. I'll feed myself for once." He chuckled when I protested sleepily. "Fai, I _did _feed myself for sixteen years before you came."

"Oh, alright," I yawned, sitting up. "By the way, Sakura wants me to go dress shopping with her."

Yuui stopped on his way into the kitchen. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"I dunno for sure. She's bringing other girls with her. Male opinion, I guess?"

"Which girls?" he asked, ignoring the question mark at the end of my last sentence.

"Tomoyo and Sue."

"Sue….?"

"I don't actually know her last name," I confessed. "Her mother's name is Ora, I think, though," I added as an afterthought.

Yuui grunted. "Hnh. I know who it is, then. Nice girl. Her mother's a wonderful singer, too."

"Oh?" I swung my legs off of the couch.

"Yeah. Now go to bed before I have to make you," he growled playfully. My _Dad. _Growled playfully. What was this world coming too? Was 2012 coming early?

"Alright, alright," I muttered, trying to hide my private mortification. "I'm going to sleep. Good night."

The next morning was equally blissed-out. I think people were beginning to think I was on Ecstasy or something. I was that high. I gave Sakura a definite yes and after school, she and Tomoyo followed me home in Tomoyo's Chevrolet so that I could get rid of my stuff before going with them to pick up Sue. Yuui was right. Sue's mother _did _have a lovely voice. How on _earth, hell AND heaven _was she not famous? By the time we reached Port Angeles, I had forgotten all about my anger at Kuro-chu.

**

* * *

**

A/N: Anything remotely Islamic came from Kennedy, Bacharach, Bulliet, and/or Hathaway, meaning that it was from a purely historical standpoint. Anything remotely Wikipedic came directly from Wikipedia. Keyword "vampires" on Google, then "I'm Feeling Lucky." You can even check. Ora, too, is from Clover, although I think both she and Sue made guest appearances in Tsubasa. And yes, I

_**do **_**make up words. Webster's should coin words from me instead of Sarah Palin. I'm that genius. :) Ok, enough ego. See ya next time!**


	10. Port Angeles

**A/N: I thought about it. I really did. For weeks. Then, I had a revelation. **_**I am a bad, lazy, shiftless author. **_**So. We're just going to continue with the main story.**

**I **_**could **_**say that I owned the characters, but then I'd get sued.**

* * *

Angeles  
_~freedom is at hand and I am confused~_

As we wandered around the (extremely limited) dress shop, Tomoyo chattered happily about the dance and held up dresses for Sakura to try on. Sue wandered away a little, gravitating towards the petite section. Briefly, I wondered why _Tomoyo _of all people wanted to go shopping for dresses. She was always the one to—

"Fai!"

"Huh?"

"What do you think of this dress?" Tomoyo tugged me over to where Sakura stood on a pedestal, all decked out in a magnificent white dress, complete with sequins and abstract swirls. Sakura looked vaguely uncomfortable in the dress, as if she knew it was too much but was forced into it anyway (she was.)

"Wait, when's the wedding?" I joked, blown away by the sheer amount of white froth that Sakura looked like she was drowning in. Tomoyo eyed the dress critically.

"You're right. It's too wedding-ish." She pushed Sakura back into the fitting room. "Try on a new one!" She yelled encouragingly.

"Why couldn't you just make me a dress, like you'll do for yourself?" Sakura grumbled. "Why go through the trouble of picking out a dress you'll wear only once?"

"_Because…"_ Tomoyo drawled, "it's all part of your high school experience, _and _shopping is fun. Besides, don't you want to look your best for Syaoran?"

_Fwump. _The muffled sound told us that Sakura had slipped up when Tomoyo mentioned Syaoran's name. Ten bucks says she looks like a strawberry, too.

Another fitting room door opened and Sue walked out, wearing a pretty white dress that ended at her knees and flowed down to the floor in the back. The silver gear design that embellished its edges and collar brought out her forest green eyes, white-blonde hair, and gentle smile. She was barefoot and looked like a steampunk angel. I couldn't help it; I hugged her as tightly as I could.

"You look _beautiful!" _Tomoyo squealed. Sue, who was struggling to breathe in my tight grip, nodded in thanks.

"Fai, let me go please," she gasped out. I let her go.

"Oops. Sorry," I mumbled, chagrined. "You just looked so pretty."

She curtsied, and I almost tackled her. So. Damn. _Cute. _Sakura walked out of her dressing room, this time in a gothic dress that oddly fit her very well.

"What do you think?" she asked, twirling a little. Behind her, I could see a pile of discarded dresses. It looked like they'd tried about every style, color and cut available. Where had I been for the last five minutes? Oh, right. Stuck in my head.

Tomoyo shook her head. "No, this won't do…well, actually, you and I will probably be better off with custom dresses." She looked at me. I shrugged.

"Whatever you said, but I definitely like Sue's dress." Tomoyo smacked her forehead.

"Fai! You're _so _out of it today!"

"Sorry, sorry! I just have stuff on my mind, that's all."

Sakura looked at me sympathetically, then. "Is this about Syaoran telling everyone that he's taking you to prom?"

"No, it's not that but—wait, WHAT?" The three girls exchanged glances and huddled up; leaving me out of the circle, sitting in a chair, wondering what the hell was going on.

"…no! I'm not going to be the one to tell him!"

"…you have to!"

"I'm going to go change back into my regular clothes," Sakura announced. She retreated into the dressing room before the other two could protest.

Tomoyo and Sue exchanged looks. "Rock, paper, scissors?" I suggested mildly.

"Yeah, let's do that!"

Twenty minutes and nine rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors later, I got the entire story. One certain fluffy-haired teenage will not live to see the next sunrise, I promise you that. Fuming (me) and bewildered (them), we left the dress shop after paying for Sue's dress. The girls wanted to look at makeup, since there was still time, and no one wanted dinner yet. I decided to go to a bookshop, since I wouldn't understand a thing that they wanted to talk about (as much as I like girls' clothing, cosmetics were always a loss for me.) We separated at a crosswalk, with a promise to meet back at the little Italian restaurant that Tomoyo had given me directions to at seven.

One problem. I had completely forgotten that I had no sense of direction whatsoever. Within the first fifteen minutes of my walking alone, I was lost. Shuffling a tad dejectedly at my stupidity, I resolved to find the nearest open shop and ask for directions. I meandered along a street, muttering softly to myself about the injustices of genetics, and my neck suddenly prickled. I turned a corner. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw nothing. No one. Perhaps I was being too hypersensitive. I continued along the empty street. Occasionally, a car would thunder past, and I would shiver at the cold wind it stirred up. Across the street, four men stumbled drunkenly out of a pub. I continued by, hoping, praying, _wishing _that they wouldn't notice me.

"Hey there, darling!" one yelled brazenly. The other three laughed raucously.

I winced. So much for not being noticed. I kept walking, hoping that they weren't actually talking _to _me.

"Hey! Where ya going? Wanna play wid ussssh?" He slurred out. I walked faster. I knew that they were following me. The voices weren't getting any quieter.

It was tempting, though, to bait the men, to see what would happen if I decided to fight instead of listening to the good voice inside my head that told me to flee. I ducked into a side alley in hopes that it wouldn't be a dead end.

I cursed at the brick walk that greeted my face. Then I turned around to face my trackers. Hands up, ready to guard. Knees bent, feet apart, ready to run and hopefully not face-plant on the dirty cement. "What do you want from me?" I asked warily. Three scruffy, drunk men giggled. One leered.

"Aww, don't be like that. 'Ssshnot like anything _bad's _happen to about…about to happen." He stumbled a bit, and his cronies pushed him upright. "…In fact, if your goooood, this might be an almost _pleasant _memory." He leered again.

I felt the wall meet my back. The rough brick pricked me through my shirt. "No, that's okay," I countered, trying to draw out the time. _Please, someone…anyone…Kuro-wan? You're always here…_"I'm not really a _girl, _if you haven't noticed…"

"Really?" Leery turned to his cronies. "Do ya think sshee's tellin' us the truth, boys?" One man squinted at me. I suppose, it could be loosely termed as "checking me out", although I wasn't sure if that was what he was trying to do, or focus his eyes.

"Hunh, I dunno, man…ain't got much ta talk about, so's I can tell…" he slurred out. "But…y'knoooow, I can't sh-see too well, maybe if I got a little—" The angry screech of a certain silver Volvo cut him off as he dived for cover among the rats and the garbage. The rest of the men had scattered as well. They weren't so drunk as to not be able to realize an angry car when…oh _hell, _now _I _sound drunk.

The passenger door popped open, and a familiar voice commanded me to "Get in before I attempt to murder those motherfuckers with my bare hands."

I couldn't be bothered to point out his hypocrisy. I just jumped in, slammed the door and let him speed out of the alley. He looked livid. His eyes were blazing like coals in the semi darkness, and I was overcome with the sudden urge to touch his eyes to see if they burned.

"_What the hell," _he got out through gritted teeth, "_were you doing alone?"_

"Am I not allowed to be alone when I want to be?" I asked, shaken, but offended.

"Don't argue with me—just answer the question." His hands gripped the steering wheel with a death grip.

"Alright, I wanted to look at books, the girls wanted to look at make-up, happy?" I sighed. His knuckles were turning white, I noticed.

He grunted noncommittally, but his grip relaxed. "Why?" he asked, still through gritted teeth.

"The library is far more deficient than it would lead you to believe."

"No—Why?"

"You know, you should really quit grinding those molars of yours. It's bad for your—" My cell phone vibrated insistently in my pocket. I fished it out. _Sakura._

"Sakura?"

"Fai! Where are you? It's past seven, and I've never known you to be this irresponsible. Ditzy and flagrantly bewildered, yes, but _never this late!" _Sakura's frantic voice stabbed my ear.

"Sakura, calm down—I'm with Kuro-pop," I soothed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his grip tighten on the steering wheel again.

"Wha—Ho-e?" Sakura's voice, I swear, jumped an octave. "What the hell are you doing with him? I thought you were going to that bookstore!"

"I was…and then I made a wrong turn and…eh…got lost," I muttered sheepishly. She couldn't see me, but I was cringing like a kicked dog. It didn't help that Kurogane was snickering over the steering wheel. Is it legal to punch a driver?

"Fai…" Sakura's voice sounded resigned. A soft murmuring in the background made its way to my end. "Sue wants me to tell you that we'll be meeting at her mom's bar"—an indignant shrilling—"erm…_nightclub _instead of the little Italian restaurant we were going to."

Kuro-turp pulled a sharp right, and I almost slammed into the headboard. "Seatbelt," he grunted. I glared at him.

"Ok," I promised. Sakura said goodbye and disconnected. I closed the cell phone and clutched it in my hand. I sighed and looked at Kuro-murph. He looked at me.

"The Clover?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I raised an eyebrow in response.

"Yes, Kuro-listener. How'd you know?"

"You had the speaker volume on so high; I'd be surprised if the driver behind us didn't hear."

I really did smack him—hard—upside the head. He retaliated by slamming the brakes—hard—and almost throwing me into the windshield.

"We're here," he said curtly.

"You drive like a maniac."

"You hit like a girl."

"That was uncalled for."

"So was your compliment."

"Damn you."

"Too late."

"…What?"

A sharp rap resounded on the window. We—I—whipped my head around to see three pale, furious faces appeared in the window.

_Out! _Sakura mouthed. _We need to talk._

I opened the door and climbed out of the car. Kurogane did the same on the other side. I got about a foot and a half away from the car when Sakura glomped me. Immediately, I tried to pry her off and shot a desperate look at Kuro-fer. He shrugged with a smirk and leaned against the stupid Volvo. If I killed him now, would it count as battery, aggravated assault, or homicide?

"We were so _worried!" _Sakura yelled into my sternum. Tomoyo put a gentle hand on her shoulder and, succeeding in what I couldn't, persuaded Sakura to let go of me.

"Sakura, Fai's fine. See for yourself. In fact, I think we may have interrupted something special," she soothed with a devious twinkle in her eye.

To avoid her knowing gaze, I looked over at Sue, who was holding a bundle of cloth in her arms. "Your jacket," she chimed, holding the fabric out to me. I thanked her and took the jacket. "If you want, I can get you two a private table. We haven't eaten yet, but I think you and Kurogane would like to be alone."

Even though she was talking to me, I could see that the offer was directed towards Kurogane. He nodded curtly.

"Thanks."

Sakura glanced between us and back at Tomoyo. "Ho-e?" she squeaked. Then comprehension dawned in her eyes. "Ohhh!" She reached up to my shoulder and tugged me downwards so that my ear was level with her mouth. "I want _details tomorrow!" _she hissed in my ear. Then she let go and joined Tomoyo and Sue, who were both now standing, waiting, in front of the Clover.

I blushed. "It's nothing like that!" I waved off, hopefully nonchalantly. Tomoyo nodded understandingly.

"Sure it isn't."

"Tomoyo Daidouji, I don't like you at all anymore," I hissed as I made my way up the steps to the front of the Clover. She smiled sweetly in my face.

"Now Sue," she said, turning to the small blonde girl, "how about that private booth for the love-birds?"

"Scratch that, _I hate you_," I spat as Sue led me away by the hand and Kurogane followed.

"Love ya, too!" Tomoyo smirked, following us in.

Two strings pulled and a pair of Bambi eyes later, Sue had me and Kuro-wu in a secluded booth, sitting across from each other and silently glancing at the menu and each other every few seconds. Every time our eyes met, they darted away just as quickly. She had long since disappeared to join Tomoyo and Sakura, and we were shifting uncomfortably in our seats, unsure of what to say.

Kuro-awkward cleared his throat as if he wanted to say something, but before he could, a waitress appeared.

"Hello, welcome to the Clover! I'll be your server tonight; what can I get you?" She said all of this very quickly, a blush creeping up her cheeks as her eyes darted from me to Kuro-scary to me and back. Back and forth. And back and forth. Kuro-goo smirked confidently at her and she flushed. I tried smiling reassuringly, but that only seemed to make it worse. She was starting to look a bit like a steamed lobster. Her hand was visibly shaking on the pad of paper she held out in front of her, pen poised.

Kuro-pot glanced down at the menu. "A whiskey. And a coke for the blonde one." He jerked his thumb at me.

"Yeah…sure. Wait. WHAT? Why do _you _get the alcohol?" I complained. He glared at me.

"Because I'm going to need all the alcohol I can get to keep from throttling that neck of yours."

I glared back at him. "Fine, but I'm driving home."

"I can hold my liquor better than you can, probably," he shot back.

The waitress, who had been fighting down her blush, looked from me to Kuro-bun in confusion. "Excuse me? I thought it was just a coke and a whiskey."

"Yeah, it _is," _Kuro-buro snapped. The waitress squeaked and tried to protect herself with her notepad. She scurried away as fast as protocol would allow.

The minute the waitress was out of sight, I relaxed my glare into a sweet smile. "You know, you really could stand to be a little nicer to the personnel—the poor girl's probably having a nervous breakdown on the freezer floor right now."

Kurogane just looked at me. I smiled pleasantly back at him. Slowly, the atmosphere faded from tense to awkward. Again. I cleared my throat uncomfortably.

"So…tell me what you were doing in Port Angeles. I swear, you're stalking me." I put my elbows on the table and leaned closer to him. "Don't lie to me. I've been doing research."

Kurogane smirked and leaned forward. "Maybe. You always need to be saved anyway. Like a _princess."_

"Sakura's the princess. Not me," I whispered to him. In the background, a woman with wild black hair wearing an elaborate black dress climbed on stage and began to sing. Dimly, I recognized the voice as Sue's mother's voice.

"So what do you want to know?" Kurogane asked—no, he _purred. _

_I want to know all your secrets…then show me your soul…be it deep black or gold…I'll love you no matter what, _Ora sang.

"What she said," I murmured. "Everything."

He looked amused for a moment, and his eyes flickered away from mine. The poor waitress was walking, albeit a bit shakily, towards us with our drinks.

_Look me in the eyes instead of away…don't keep me away from looking into your soul…be it deep black or gold..._Out of the corner of my eye, a small white figure sits down on the edge of the stage. Sue adds a harmony to her mother's singing an octave higher.

"Your d-drinks," the poor girl stammered. She ran away as soon as she could.

"I'm not a vampire. I won't suck your body dry," Kuro-dot called out to her.

"…what?" I asked him, confused.

"Isn't that what you were asking?" He turned back to me.

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know. You tell me?" I blurted out. I took a gulp of my drink, and realized, as the fire rushed down my throat, that it was Kuro-puu's drink. _"Crap!" _I grab at what looks to be my drink and take a gulp. As _more _fire licked down my sides I realized that it was Kuro-doki's drink. _He must've switched them, the bastard. Just to get out of my questions!_

He was smirking now, but my vision was a little teary and blurry at the edges, so I couldn't be sure. "I think we need to be getting home," he said casually. He stood up and hoisted me over his shoulder. "You're as drunk as a cat, and you haven't even had _that _much to drink! Lightweight," he muttered. He dropped a bill on the table, paying for the unfinished drinks. He carried me this way, as I tried fighting the clouds that were infesting my head, to his car, where he dumped me unceremoniously into the passenger seat and strapped me in. When he had climbed into the driver's side, he looked at me, in my drunken stupor, and—I would say leered, but I was drunk after all—smirked. "Now it's your turn."

* * *

**I suggest that you review. But flames are laughed at and rejected. No. The Clover does not exist outside of CLAMP, to the extent of my knowledge.**


	11. Theory

**A/N: It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been away, trying to buy the rights to Tsubasa. **

…

**LOLJK. (Never thought I'd use that one…) My brother stole my book, and he just gave it back. Well, no. I stole it back, since it's obvious the book's not being read and is just sitting there, sadly, unloved.**

**Right now, it's raining nicely outside my window, and I've decided that life is nice when you're sitting in the half-light, listening to Ingrid Michaelson sing.**

* * *

9. Theory~_soothing sounds of movement~_

While I'm brushing away the spider-threads of intoxication and buckling myself into the front seat of his car, Kuro-kidnapper starts the Volvo and pulls into the empty street.

"Can I ask just one more?" I ask him. I look pleadingly at him.

"One," he acquiesces, eyes flickering from the road to my face and back to the road.

"_Are _you stalking me?" I press him. "I mean, you always seem to find me really annoying and stuff…" I trail away questioningly, waiting for his abrupt change of subject, or some other type of information-seeking-derailment.

"…"

"_Answer me, _Kurogane," I hiss at him, frustrated that he wasn't answering any of my questions.

He sighed. "No," he said shortly.

"Then how—"

"The witch is preom—the witch can sense the future," he interrupts. In return, I raise an eyebrow at him.

"'The witch'?'" I quoted dryly. "And I suppose she just happened to decide to take a look at my future…?"

"My…mother," he clarified reluctantly, "the most conniving, price-exacting bitch I've _ever _had the misfortune to meet, likes meddling in new people's lives. And since we don't get many of _those, _she decided to take an interest in your life." He said all of this as if his mother had taken up watching reruns of _Gilmore Girls _or watching the jewelry channel.

"Well, _that's _not a very nice thing to call your mother, now is it, Kuro-pop?" I teased.

"_You've _never had to bargain for something from her," he countered. He merged into the next lane. I shrug noncommittally and let my gaze trail from the side of his face, where the reflected light was glancing off of his cheekbone and making his eyes shine brilliantly in the gloom, down his toned arm to the dashboard, where I promptly and smacked him hard on the back of the head when I noticed just _how fast we were going_. "Ow!" he complained, taking a hand off of the wheel to rub at the sore spot on the back of his head. "What the hell was that for?"

"My dad is a police officer! I was taught to _obey _the traffic laws! And that means NOT driving at over ninety miles an hour!" I crossed my arms and glared at him.

He glared back for a minute, and then growled in defeat. Slowly, I watched the speedometer edge closer to a much more acceptable seventy.

"Better?" he asked patronizingly. I wanted to hit him again.

"…Yes."

He drove in silence for a few more minutes. "So, what do you want to know?" he asked me again.

"I…" I hesitated, not knowing for certain what to say. What if I'm wrong and he laughs and tells everyone what a paranoid freak I am? What if I'm right and I've dragged myself into a conspiracy deeper than the Illuminati? What if—

"What if," he growled impatiently, "what if you actually _tell _me what's on your mind instead of making me wonder why you're muttering under your breath like a loon?"

"Okay, then." I steeled myself and took a deep breath. "?" I asked at top speed.

He thought for a minute. "Yes. Yes. And, I suppose you could say 'yes' to all the other parts, too. Why?"

"Well, I sort of ran into an old friend on the beach…he told me about a pair of vampires that came here not too long ago…and that there had been others joined with them since then, that they might also be vampires, since they didn't seem to die," I paraphrased.

"Right. So?" he prompted me.

"Then, I did some research on the internet."

"Did that convince you?"

"No. Not really. None of it seemed to fit you specifically, so…I just…" I stopped. My hands were wringing the edge of my shirt as if it were a washcloth. I stilled their movement. I realized that, after all the work I did, none of it seemed to matter to me in the slightest. It was as if the urge-the pull-had never existed.

"What?"

"I just stopped caring."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I guess it was just something that was bothering me that I had to get rid of, kind of like unfinished business." I shrugged.

"So, you're convinced that I'm not a vampire?" he pressed.

"Yeah, I am."

"What about the rest of my family?" He had a secretive smirk on his face now.

"What about them?" I hadn't really given them any thought. I was too concerned about the guy sitting not a foot from me to broaden my thinking. After all, they were family. If one wasn't, then shouldn't all the others be, too?

"You've forgotten that we're all adopted?" he asked condescendingly. Dammit. I _did _forget.

"So does that mean that, although it's not true for you, it's true for the others in your family?" I asked him quietly. My mind was racing. Who could it be?

"Not all of them," he toyed back, "just a couple." He looked over at me, who was fiddling with my shirt hem.

"A couple?" I thought back to the story that Ashura had told us at the beach. _At first, there were only two of them …they're nothing more than blood-drinkers. _"The twins, maybe?" I asked hopefully.

"Hmm."

"Oh." I smiled at his acknowledgment. "And they're guarding a feather?"

He nodded.

"For what?"

"When the rightful owner comes along and takes it. Then, they'll leave and go onto some other place. Except, the only people who actually know _when _the owner will be coming are the 'rents."

"What about the rest of you?"

"We do whatever our interests lean towards. Fencing, mostly. Kamui joins us sometimes, but you don't want to be in the same room when he and Fuuma start fighting. They really go at it."

I chuckled wryly. "Gotcha."

"Sometimes, the witch'll have us help out at her shop. But that's what the spazzy kid is there for, so I don't know why…" he trailed off, grumbling irately to himself.

"Yes, yes, because Watanuki can certainly clean up an _entire _antique shop by himself," I said sarcastically, patting him on the shoulder.

"How'd you know it was him?" Kurogane squinted at me in the low light.

"Who else can be labeled 'spazzy'?"

"True." Kurogane pulled off the highway and into a local road. We were getting close to home.

"So, tell me," I started conversationally, "does Watanuki know anything about this?"

Kurogane grunted. "More or less. I think the witch is planning on letting him take over the shop when she leaves. She says that he's the only one she can trust the store to, and so he and his friend are around a lot. They're bound to learn something."

"I guess." I turned a thoughtful face towards the passenger window.

"What's rattling around in that empty head of yours now?" he asked gruffly, if not a tad bit curiously. He turned left down my street.

"So if the twins will be leaving and Watanuki will be taking over the store when the feather's returned, what'll happen to the rest of you?" I probed curiously.

"I don't know," he answered quietly. "Yuuko says that we'll just wake up in our own beds, like it was all a dream. Personally, I hope that won't happen. " He glanced sideways at me, and I fought to control a rising blush in exchange for a dopey grin. I poked him in the cheek.

"Awww, Kuro-mush is a closet romantic!" I gushed teasingly. The sudden stop of the car snapped me back into my seat.

"Hmph." Kuro-coo let the engine idle and he leaned back, running his hand through the messy spikes on top of his head.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked him quietly.

He looked bemusedly at me. "No shit, I have a paper due tomorrow, just like you."

"Right…" His answer, though casual, had started a deep steady throbbing in my chest. I opened the car door, preparing to step out, only to be stopped by the seat belt. "Damn," I cursed quietly, acutely aware that I must look incredibly stupid with one leg in the car, one leg out, fumbling to keep open the car door and unbuckle myself in the dark.

"Here," Kurogane said roughly, batting my fluttering hand away and jabbing the little red release button. "Idiot."

I flushed red and used getting out of the Volvo as an excuse to keep my face away from him.

"And Fai?" he called when I had gotten both feet safely on the ground and was about to close the door, "I'd stay away from the dark alleys if I were you." He smirked, and I slammed the car door as hard as I could in a petulant revenge against him and stalked to the front porch as he zoomed away in his stupid fast car. This seemed to happen a lot, I noticed dully. I unlocked the front door with the key in my pocket and stepped in.

"Fai?" Yuui stepped out of the kitchen, half-eaten sandwich in hand.

"Hmm?"

"You're back early." He sounded surprised.

"Um, yeah, I guess so. What time is it anyway?"

"Close to eight. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah—lots. Tomoyo pretty much ripped apart the dress section looking for the perfect dress for Sakura, and then decided that she would be better off with a custom dress. Sue found a dress, though."

"You alright? You look kind of peaky."

"I'm fine. Just tired. I almost got into a fight, but"—I was cut off with the insistent ringing of the telephone. "I'll get it." I sidestepped my father, who was looking at me as if I were insane, and picked up the phone.

"Fai?"

"Oh, hi Sakura!" I said breathlessly. "Thanks for saving me from my dad."

"Yeah, no problem—wait, what?"

"Nothing, nothing," I covered hurriedly.

"Nothing's ever 'nothing' with you," she said suspiciously. "What's up? Did you make it home alright? By the way, I have your jacket."

"Again, this time, it really _is _nothing; yes, _mom, _I made it home alright; and thanks, can you bring it to school tomorrow?" Yuui had wandered away by then, probably to catch the last innings of whatever sport they were playing out on the TV.

"Don't worry, I will—in exchange, you'll have to tell me about what happened between you and Reed!" she bargained.

"Jeez, you're so much like Watanuki's boss!" I complained good-naturedly.

Sakura snorted indelicately. "I am _nothing _like that witch, trust me."

"Funny, that's what Kuro-chan said, too."

"Who?"

"Reed."

"Oh." There was a pause, and I could hear some indistinct yelling. "I want _details," _she hissed. Then hung up. I looked open-mouthed at the phone, which I slowly lowered back into its cradle. Her abruptness was slightly off-putting, so unlike the sweet Sakura I had known at the beginning of the year. I walked up stairs slowly, trying to formulate a defense plan for what I knew Sakura was bound to ask, and at the same time, organize everything that Kuro-sho had told me today. I went through the motions of getting ready for bed in an almost dream-like state, head swirling with all the details.

In the end, all I could be sure of were these:

1. Sakura will eat me alive tomorrow in Trig, or at least grill me until I'm crispy.

2. I was only half-right about the Reed family and now I'm stuck in some sort of conspiracy that involves a spazzy teen in some way.

3. Kurogane is very fun to poke. And there was a little part of me that wanted to get to know him a lot better than what I already knew.

* * *

**A/N: Never mind. It was a thunderstorm, complete with lightning. I think it's stopped now, though.**


End file.
